Drone
by Reven207
Summary: My first story on this website. When Ashley Williams stayed behind to set of the bomb she knew it was the end, or was it?
1. Chapter 1

Drone

I do not own Mass Effect or any of its characters.

"Go ahead Commander, save the other team! I'll set off the bomb and hold them off! What a great fucking idea Williams!" Ashley Williams yelled at herself, the chief had to laugh at the situation that she found herself in at this point. All her life she'd wanted to redeem her grandfather and her family's name, she was willing to do anything at all, so much so that Shepard once said that she wouldn't be happy until she became a martyr for a cause. She always figured that the commander was just joking with her in that sarcastic manner of hers, but now she was about to become that martyr. For an instant, in Ashley Williams's minds eye she saw an old, pigeon covered statue of her in a public square. There'd be a plaque on it that said "In Memory of Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams Hero of Virmire." Ash snapped out of her daze just in time to take down two more Geth drones that were moving in on her position and, then fired off hitting two more. The Geth were backing off again. She knew that it would just be for a moment, but she could use this time to catch her breath. She checked herself over, she was running low on ammunition and had long since run out of grenades, her shields were shot and wouldn't recharge no matter what she did, and a few rounds had pierced her armor but not the heavy weave under her armor. Ash knew going into this that she would not survive, there would be no last minute rescue for her. She accepted that and regretted nothing.

Well that's not true, she had one regret and that was Tali. She was so sorry that she was going to leave her behind, so sorry that she had never gotten to see her face or touch her skin. She regretted that she hadn't figured out how she felt about her sooner. Ash had a feeling that she had always liked women, but she had never admitted it to herself, and it really wasn't until Tali came along was she able to admit to her desires to herself. It was a very strange thing, to fall head over heels in love with a woman that she'd never really seen. She had fallen for Tali hard, and looking back on it Ashley knew that she fell in love with her the first time she saw her in that alleyway in the lower wards of the Citadel. She had wasted months of time that she could've spent with Tali, because of her distrust of non-humans. However she had Shepard to thank for changing that. She wore her down by making her trust and work with the non-human members of the Normandy crew, doing assault missions with Wrex and Garrus and recon and pick up missions with Tali or Liara until she finally got over her distrusts. Ashley Williams was thrilled to be a part of the team on this mission. But, the last two months since she had admitted her feelings to Tali'Zorah, it had obviously proven that it was not an easy relationship due to the Quarian's limitations. However Ash wouldn't give it up for anything.

Suddenly the Geth returned for their third attempt to defuse the explosive, and once again the Gunnery Chief was under heavy fire. While she continued to fight off the Geth horde she thought back to the promise that she made to Tali at the Salarian STG camp before the attack on Saren's facility began. Even though the Normandy team had beaten the odds on numerous missions before, fought against superior numbers to rescue Liara on Therum, saved the survivors of Peak 13 and freed the Rachni queen on Noveria, and saved many of the colonists and destroyed the Thorian on Feros. While all of those missions were dangerous, none of them felt as deadly as the missions on Virmire. They were outnumbered not only in the numbers of Geth and husks, but now learning about the cloned Krogan soldiers that Saren had within the facility the mission now seemed insurmountable. She had seen the Commander and Wrex in a very tense situation that almost came to blows, but Shepard was able to talk some sense into the old Krogan and he went along with the plan to destroy the facility and the genophage cure. Just before Shepard ordered the crew out she was able to share a private moment with Tali in one of the STG camps. The two of them talked about what they wanted to do once this mission was finally over. Tali talked about wanting to show Ashley the Flotilla, and meet her father and her Auntie Raan. She loved listening to her go on about life in the Flotilla and Quarian culture and more than anything loved the sound of Tali's voice. Ashley also talked to Tali about taking her to Earth, meeting the rest of the Williams family and exploring the cities of Earth. It was at the end of their conversation that Tali grew silent.

"What's wrong?" Ashley asked.

"I'm scared, more scared then I've ever been in my life." Tali responded in her synthetic voice.

"We've been through dangerous missions before, we'll be just fine." Said Ashley.

"It's not that. I'm scared for us. I'm trying not to think about it but I can't help it, how would either of us go on if we lost the other? I've never been so happy, but I don't know what I'd do with out you." Said Tali. Ashley could tell just how emotional she was just by the sound of her voice. Ashley hugged Tali's body close to hers and tried as best as she could to calm her lover down.

"Hey hey, you can't think like that Shepard has gotten us through everything so far with all of us intact," Ashley said with as much reassurance as she could, but she would be lying if she said that she wasn't thinking the same thing.

"We're going to get through this whole thing just fine I promise." Said Ashley.

"Do you really think so?" Tali said breaking the embrace and looking into Ashley's eyes.

"Yes we will, and you know what?" Said the Chief.

"What?" Said Tali. Ashley leaned down and kissed Tali's faceplate.

"I know that we haven't been together long, but I knew that the first time I laid eyes on you that you were the person that I wanted to grow old with." Said Ashley smiling down at her.

"Oh I wish I didn't have to wear this damned environment suit right now." Said Tali, than said. "Right now I think it would be worth risking infection to take this helmet off."

"Heh you really shouldn't do that right now, Shepard's going to need everyone onboard for this mission." Said Ashley. After all words had been expressed the two women simply held each other for the next few moments waiting for the commander to call them.

"I'm Sorry Tali." Ashley said aloud before dispatching several more Geth troopers.

She wanted to lead that Salarian fire team the commander assigned Kaidan to the Salarian team. She thought that the biotic was a little to eager to volunteer for the assignment, like he was still thinking that he was going to impress the Commander. But Ashley knew better; she had seen the way that Liara and Amanda Shepard looked at each other and acted around each other. It was exactly the same way that Tali and her looked at each other. So the Commander took her with her through Saren's base. After they reached the Prothean beacon and learned the truth about the Reapers, they left the beacon room and the team moved toward the rendezvous point with the Normandy. Upon clearing the landing site the Normandy arrived to drop off the bomb. While we were setting up the bomb a frantic message came over the radio, Kadian and the STG were holding their position but they were in danger of being overrun, the Commander left her in charge of the bombsite and everything was going fine. The Commander took Tali and Garrus with her to rescue the STG team and after the bomb was dropped off the Normandy took off towards the STG's position, so Ashley and the two crew members that were activating the bomb were left there all alone, the plan that the Commander told her was they would pick up Kadian and the STG and then come back for them. But a few minutes after Shepard took off a Geth drop ship moved in on their position and dropped off a ton of Geth troopers. Thankfully it was nothing too big so they weren't overrun immediately. The two other soldiers were killed shortly after the Geth landed and in that instant Ashley knew that the only option was to activate the bomb and then hold the position until her death. She radioed the Commander and told her what the situation was and told her to go and rescue the others, she was the only one there and there were several people in the STG team, she knew that it was more important for the Commander to rescue the Salarian's than to come back for her. Then Ashley talked to Tali for the last time.

"I'm sorry Tali, but I guess I won't be able to see the Flotilla." Said Williams, She tried desperately to think of a poem to recite for Tali, but for some reason the only thing she could think of a line from the movie _Blade Runner_. An old human movie that she showed Tali a month ago which Tali had really enjoyed.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those... moments will be lost in time, like tears...in rain. Time to die." Ashley said as she choked back tears.

"Goodbye Ashley, you will forever be in my heart." Said Tali her sobbing could be heard plainly to all around her.

Two more shots fired and two more Geth down and only a few more minutes left to go, while she paused to reload she saw the Normandy take off and leave the planets atmosphere escaping to safety. Ashley let out a sigh off relief with the knowledge that Tali and the rest of the team made it off the planet safely. The Gunnery Chief finished reloading her assault rifle and was taking aim when a Geth rocket trooper fired a rocket that impacted right next to her.

After the explosion Ashley Williams world was spinning she couldn't hear and her vision was blurry. She attempted to stand, but found that she couldn't so she scooted her way to a pillar that was in the center of the space she manage to sit herself upright and began to survey the damage. When the world finally came back into focus Ashley realized she couldn't see out of her right eye, the explosion had also shredded what was left of her armor and left her legs and right arm horribly mangled. Even if a last minute rescue some how happened she would probably never walk again without the use of cybernetics. It was a very strange thing to feel the life slowly ebb out of her; everything seemed to get darker, like the world was slowly collapsing in on itself. But she at least knew that there was no way that the Geth could disarm the bomb in time, she tilted her head up and saw several Geth moving towards her, she knew that this was truly the end. But suddenly the Geth approaching her were killed by a quick series of shots. She couldn't see who or what shot them for what seemed like a long time but then suddenly another Geth platform came into view. Now, Ashley had fought and killed many Geth over the last few months but this one was very different. It was taller than the standard Geth mobile platform but it was not a Prime platform. It kneeled down in front of her and stared at her at least she thought it was staring at her, she couldn't really tell if that headlight was actually looking at her.

"Well if you're gonna kill me you'd better do it." Ashley managed to spit out.

But then surprising to the Geth platform reached under her and picked her up, the various plates on its head shifting and buzzing.

"Williams, Gunnery Chief." It said.

And that was the last thing that Ashley Williams saw in this life.

-Well there it is the first chapter of my first story, hope you enjoyed it and I will certainly be adding more chapters soon. I included the little Blade Runner reference because I think it's an incredible movie and I thought that it would be a nice touch for Tali to like this old earth movie about synthetic people who only want to live. I know that most of you who read this already know about the events on Virmire but I thought that it was important to go over it again for the reader, and to also see it through Ashley's eyes. I've also always figured that someone who was in such a situation would think about the events that brought him or her to this point. So I hope that you enjoy this first attempt of mine.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Mass Effect or any of its characters.

Just so you know the narration perspective may shift around a bit in this chapter, so just bear with me.

_Onboard a Geth fighter crossing into the Perseus Veil._

The trip back across the Perseus Veil was a much more dangerous task than it was mere months ago. The attack by Nazara and the Heretics on Eden Prime had made the other races remember the Veil and many of them were beginning to build a greater presence on the Terminus side of the Veil. Most races considered the Geth as little more than a myth like the Collectors, an issue that only concerned the Quarians. But, following a series of attacks by Heretics, the galaxy suddenly remembered the Geth and now feared them. It is a strange response this fear, something uniquely organic and something that the Geth could never quite understand. Even though the Geth built the consensus to remain behind the Veil, following the Creators' withdrawal after the Morning War, we now believe that this was a mistake.

The Geth have remained isolated for too long, remaining so focused on building our future and ignoring the rest of the galaxy; that was about to change. The Heretics had shaped the galaxy's opinion of us and it was up to the true Geth to change it. The build-up had begun since the departure of the Heretics; even though Nazara assured us that it held no ill will towards us we did not believe it. The bases and shipyards in high orbit of Rannoch were working at full capacity and were producing new ships and new combat platforms everyday. Even though it would mean taking up arms against the Heretics, we know that we must fight with the other races against the Reapers because, if we do not then, it would mean the end of all. Though it will be very difficult to build consensus with the other races, we will find a way.

We believe that the human Spectre named Shepard is now the key to the survival to all races in the galaxy. It is not known what information was downloaded to Shepard by the Prothean beacons, but given her many successes against Saren and Nazara, it would appear that she now possesses superior tactical knowledge and ability. Consensus has been reached, the main objective of this platform is now to ally the Geth with Shepard, but with Shepard's return to Council space contact is momentarily impossible, so it's new orders are to return to the prime hub for download. This platform is very unique, a combat platform that can also function as a hub for 1,183 separate Geth programs, giving it much more intelligence than the average Geth platform.

We were specifically designed to interact with organics, mainly in terms of linguistic communication, but also in the ability to articulate its expressions in a manner that other Geth could not. But even for how advanced this model is, we still cannot fully understand organic life and emotions. We have a basic understanding of organic emotion, but since we cannot experience emotion such as: anger, rage, sorrow, joy, hate, love and so on, we can never fully understand them. That is why we took her; she is the key, the means of bridging the gap between organic life and the Geth. It may take time, but with the entire Geth collective operating as one we will bring her back. The Geth platform looked back at its cargo: the lifeless body of Ashley Williams secured in a biotic field to prevent the decomposition process.

"We will repair you." Said the platform.

The Citadel

"God I hate speeches," Commander Shepard screamed inside her mind.

She had been sitting on a stage for the last four hours listening to dignitaries from all over Council space express their gratitude to her, for her actions in dealing with Saren and the Geth. It was all smiles and parades with medals all around for the Hero of the Citadel and her crew.

"Great one more medal that I have to wear on my collar whenever I have to attend one of these events!" Shepard thought.

Listening to every asshole in the galaxy that called her crazy for her claims about the Reapers was now praising her selflessness and her courage in saving the Council from certain death. It would probably give those Terra Firma morons a heart attack to know that Shepard did not regret that decision one bit and she would have sacrificed hundreds of ships to save the council. Not that she was particularly fond of the council mind you, but she knew that no matter its flaws this was the one place that could draw all of the races together for the fight against the Reapers. But if she had to listen to the Elcor ambassador share his feelings with the crowd, then she would finish the job that Saren started!

The only thing that Shepard was looking forward to was some well-deserved downtime that had been promised to her and her crew. Shepard already had several plans for what she was going to do tonight, her first intention was to challenge Wrex to a drinking game at Flux. She knew that she had a great alcohol tolerance and had every intention of drinking the old Krogan under the table. Then her thoughts turned to what she was going to do to Liara tonight. The two of them had not had much time to explore each other that night on the Normandy and she wanted to know every inch of the beautiful young Asari. Shepard made sure to broadcast every bit of her thoughts no matter how nasty to Liara, making the shy bookworm blush a deep indigo.

Shepard was just beginning to understand what the Prothean beacons had done to her mind; she knew that she wasn't the same as she was before Eden Prime. She was still Shepard, but she was different, not only could she understand Prothean, but she sometimes began speaking in Prothean with out knowing it! The telepathy didn't start until after Feros, she began to hear echoes and whispers when she was all alone in her quarters. At first Shepard thought that she was losing it, but a quick trip to Doctor Chakwas office revealed the truth. Liara had been assisting her in learning how to use her new abilities, both in improving her scanning abilities and helping her block out the thoughts of others. Which was fine with Shepard because Joker shared enough of his thoughts in casual conversation, she had no desire to see the dark and disturbing things that Joker kept in the back of his mind!

Finally the Elcor ambassador was done speaking and a sigh of relief was heard throughout the crowd. The final aspect of the days ceremony was newly minted Councilor Anderson giving all of the Normandy crew, non-human squad members included, with the highest award that the Systems Alliance could bestow on an officer, the Star of Terra. This would mark the first time that non-humans received an Alliance medal, and one of the few occasions where a whole crew received the medal. There was also going to be a posthumous Star of Terra awarded to Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams who had perished on Virmire holding the bomb position. Shepard looked over at the empty chair on the stage. Amanda Shepard had had many soldiers die under her command over her career, but she had never felt more devastated by the death of another soldier than she did about the death of Ashley Williams. Shepard was an only child, who spent most of her life on starships, and Ashley was the sister that Shepard never had, and her death hurt her more than anything she'd ever felt in her life. Seated next to the empty chair was Tali, who had spent much of the speech staring at and touching the chair. If Ashley's death devastated Shepard, than it absolutely destroyed Tali.

The once talkative Tali barley spoke at all these days and had not said one word to Shepard in weeks. She knew that Tali blamed her for Ashley's death. And to tell the truth Shepard hated herself for making that decision, but it was the only choice to make. Go back to save one life, or push forward to save twelve lives; what choice would you have made? It didn't help that Tali was standing right next to her when she issued the order. She knew that it hurts right now, but sooner or later both of them would be able to move on. The presenting of medals was finished and now it was time for Shepard to speak herself, and she wasn't looking forward to it at all. Just then a reassuring voice crept into her head.

"Don't be afraid my love, I am here for you." Liara spoke to Shepard in her mind, even though the entire galaxy was on top of Shepard's shoulders, whenever she looked into Liara's eyes the task didn't seem that challenging at all.

High orbit of Rannoch

"_Approach primary docking port unit 1."_ Said the computerized voice of docking control.

The space above Rannoch was a buzz with activity as hundreds of ships moved around the multiple orbital habitats. The Geth were coming together to achieve consensus on what should be done about the Heretics and the threat of the Old Machines. But right now there is only one word that is being discussed in the collective. Shepard. She killed one of the Old Machines, she destroyed a god! Now the rest of the collective had reached the same conclusion that we had, Shepard must become an ally to the Geth. We have prepared to take our place in the collective.

"_ALL OF THE GETH HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TOGETHER, AND WE ALL KNOW WHAT MUST BE DONE! COMMUNICATION WITH SHEPARD MUST BEGIN AT ONCE. IF SHE CAN KILL THE OLD MACHINE THAN PERHAPS SHE CAN HELP THE GETH SECURE THEIR FUTURE. SHEPARD MUST BECOME ALLY TO THE GETH," _boomed the voice of the Collective Millions of Geth platforms speaking as one.

"_OUR LONG RANGE MOBILE PLATFORM HAS RETURNED TO US AS ORDERED, BUT IT HAS NOT COME ALONE. THE CORPSE OF A HUMAN FEMALE HAS BEEN FOUND ONBOARD ITS SHIP. WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS? WHAT CAN BE GAINED FROM STUDYING A BODY OF A HUMAN?" _Inquired the Collective.

"_We have brought it back because we deemed it of value. She shall be a part of our future," _stated the platform.

"_EXPLAIN," _the Collective demanded.

"_The body was that of Ashley Williams. She was a part of the Normandy crew, she fought along side Shepard-Commander, she knows the full danger of the Old Machines. We believe that she can be restored to continue the fight," _the platform said to the Hive mind.

"_DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THIS WILLIAMS GUNNERY CHIEF IS MORE CAPABLE OF FIGHTING THE OLD MACHINES THAN SHEPARD-COMMANDER?"_ The Collective questioned.

"_Most likely no, Shepard is still the most capable means of fighting the Old Machines. But this body gives us another opportunity to understand organic life, even though this platforms main purpose is to move outside of the Veil. But we are still limited by our inability to understand organic emotions. She can give us the understanding that we lack," _the platform stated to the Collective.

"_IN WHAT WAY? EVEN IF SHE WERE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH US WE STILL WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO FEEL EMOTION. HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND WHAT WE CANNOT FEEL?" _The Collective asked.

"_We believe that if the Collective acts as a whole then we can bring her back to life using our technology; that we can integrate Ashley Williams into the Geth Collective," _said the platform, after a few minutes the Collective responded.

"_CONSENSUS ACHIEVED, WE WILL INTEGRATE WILLIAMS-GUNNERY CHIEF INTO THE GETH." _

Chapter number two is done and the story is beginning to take shape. And I would like to thank **Femegade** for her help in beta reviewing these chapters. I will warn you that the story perspective will probably shift around a little bit from here on out. The relationship between Ashley and Tali is a big part of this story, but the story is still about the fight against the Reapers. I also wanted to note that I am a big fan of **Elizabeth Carter's** "Rising From the Ashes", but that story was not the reason why I included Shepard having telepathy. I've just always felt that it didn't make sense that the Prothean beacon just gave Shepard the ability to understand the Prothean language. If the Prothean beacon changed her brain in some manner, then why not give her telepathic abilities or something like that? I've gotten started on this story and I have every intention of finishing it, so I will continue to work on it.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Mass Effect or any of its characters.

_Captains cabin SSV Normandy_

Consciousness slowly crept back into Shepard's mind and upon opening her eyes, the Commander shot upright… and then fell right back down again.

"It's going to be a long day," Shepard muttered to herself as she began to nurse the mother of all hangovers.

Much more slowly this time the Commander began to take notice of her surroundings. She was now lying on her bed in her quarters on the Normandy, there was a hot cup of coffee sitting on the table next to her bed and, much to her surprise and happiness, there was a semi naked blue woman seated at her personal computer.

_"I think I'll just pick up right where I left off,"_ Shepard thought to herself.

Slowly the Commander pulled back her covers, moved her feet over to the edge of the bed, stood up… and then fell down again. Liara was snapped out of her daze by the sudden crashing sound behind her.

"Shepard!" Yelled Liara.

"Ok ok, no more moving around for now," said Shepard as Liara helped her up and back onto the bed.

"You should have asked me for help if you wanted something." Said Liara.

"Yes mother," said Shepard she continued, "I don't understand why I'm having such a hard time standing up?"

"It's not that surprising, you've been out cold for 72 hours straight." Liara informed her, in a scolding tone of voice.

"72 hours straight!" Yelled Amanda, then immediately afterwards grabbed her head. "Oh, ok bad idea."

"What's the last thing you remember, Amanda?" Asked Liara.

"Well the last thing I remember is the after party at flux. The whole crew was there and so were most of the diplomats. I do remember having a playful romp in the ladies room with my favorite Prothean expert." Said the commander, which made her shy bookworm lover blush the deepest shade of indigo that you'd ever seen.

"Right… that's enough of that, anything else?" Asked Liara.

"After that we went back to the bar, drank with Garrus, then with Kaiden, then Wrex, and then with Anderson. After we took a break went upstairs, played some Quasar, won big -I remember that- and then I went back downstairs drank some more… and that's all I can remember." Stated the Commander taking a sip of her coffee.

"Well after Flux the crew and some of the party guests came back to the Normandy, once we were back onboard you proceeded to challenge Wrex to a drinking contest down in the cargo hold." Liara, reminded her.

Liara then got up walked over to the desk and brought over a plate of bacon, eggs, and biscuits that she'd ordered from a restaurant on the Citadel and brought it over to the Commander.

"Well news spread about the challenge pretty quick, shortly the whole crew gathered around the cargo hold, the requisitions officer set up a table in the center, and brought over several shot glasses, a couple of bottles of whiskey for you, and a couple of bottles of Ryncol for Wrex." Liara was about to continue before Shepard cut her off.

"Ryncol? What's that?" Asked Amanda.

"It's a Krogan drink, but we'll get back to that in a bit. At about the 15th shot for the two of you where both pretty woozy. You took shot number 16 and looked like you were about to collapse. For a moment everyone thought it was over and the crew was just about to exchange credit chits when you straightened up and slammed the glass down," said Liara, she then got up and walked over to the desk, turned around, started to lean against the table to look at her beloved.

"Well then what happened?' Amanda asked in between mouthfuls of eggs.

"Wrex took his 16th shot, slammed it down, grinned, and then collapsed." Said Liara.

"Ha! I knew I could drink him under the table!" Shepard exclaimed with glee.

"Yes, yes, you're very smart, now shut up." Snapped Liara, Shepard's only response was a childlike pout that caused Liara to chuckle.

"Anyway, shortly after the end of the contest, some of Wrex's redundant systems kicked in. He jumped back up, let out a big laugh, and said you know Shepard, you've got quite a quad to challenge a Krogan to drinks." Liara said in a gruff voice attempting to imitate the older Krogan.

"I guess after everything, I've earned Wrex's respect for the rest of my life," said Shepard finally finishing off her breakfast.

"But then Wrex dared you to have a shot of Ryncol. You, never knowing when to quit, took the glass and downed the shot. I was shocked that you downed the first shot with no problem. It was when you tried to have a second that things started to go wrong," said Liara, folding her arms and glaring down at her young love.

"Uh oh."

"Yeah. Immediately after the second glass you collapsed to the floor and proceeded to vomit something that resembled a Hanar… and then passed out," said Liara

"I was that bad, huh?" The commander mumbled.

"Amanda you should stop doing such stupid things, you have the weight of the world on your shoulders," she told her.

"All the reason to drink if you ask me," stated Shepard sarcastically.

"Shepard," Liara started, sitting down on the bed taking the commanders face in her hands. "You have me too, I don't like seeing you take unnecessary risks like that, so just cut back, for me please?"

"Ok. For you I promise to stop doing stupid things," Shepard replied. She then leaned forward and kissed Liara for the first time in 3 days.

"That's good, after all its not like you'll be just given a new liver if you damage this one too badly," said Liara.

"Look, I swear I'll stop taking stupid risks. So what have you been doing the last few days?" Amanda asked her, picking her coffee cup up again. "You haven't been in here the whole time have you?"

"For the most part, yes I have," said Liara. The Asari then got up and walked back over to Shepard's computer. "While you were indisposed and the ship was locked in dry-dock, I decided to catalog and chart all of the artifacts and mineral deposits that we've surveyed over the course of our journey."

"Agh, I'd been meaning to get around to that. I've just been busy doing other things, that didn't involve doing paperwork," said the commander bringing her coffee cup up to her face to shield her giggling.

"Anyway, I've finished cataloging all of the artifacts we found, along with all of the mineral we surveyed, as well as the armor, weapons, and upgrades we've sold over the course of the mission. Also I've figured out just how much money we're worth right now." Liara informed her.

"Ah so how much are we worth?" Amanda asked.

"About 3 billion credits," Liara said, then for a moment, sat in absolute silence. After a few seconds the Asari turned around and only found an empty bed. "Shepard?"

"Right here." Shepard's hand shot up from the other side of the bed. "Fuck, I can't believe that we made that much money."

"It's incredible isn't it?" Said Liara. "What are we going to do with all of that money?"

"Here's what I want to do with it; we're going to give bonuses to the rest of the crew. I don't know how much just yet, but we'll figure it out," Shepard said. "And the rest of the money will be put into an account that only you and I will have access to."

"That's a great idea!" Said Liara, "So this account will be used for the Normandy's upkeep?"

"Partially. But for the most part it will be for us to start our lives together… after we finish all of this Reaper business of course." Amanda told her.

It took Liara a few moments to process what Amanda had just said. They'd only known each other a few months and had only become intimate in the last few weeks. But, was Shepard truly thinking about these things at this point in their relationship? She was still so young and none of these thoughts had ever occurred to her.

"Are you… are you saying that you've already thinking about these things?" Liara asked her.

"Well of course I have, haven't you?" Shepard asked in response.

"Well no not quite," Liara said.

"How have you not thought about these things yet? We're so …" It was at this point that it dawned on Shepard what a mistake she'd made. She was thinking in human terms. "Liara, I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking about how Asari handle relationships. This is a human thing. I'm in my 30's, and amongst humans this is about the time that we start to settle down and build a life for each other."

"Oh! Now I understand. I was very confused I… I couldn't believe you had already thought about such things." Liara admitted.

"Well of course I've thought about these things Li. Remember Humans don't live long in comparison to the Asari; we have to think about relationships more quickly than you do."

"Now I understand," said Liara. She then paused for a moment before continuing, "so how much have you thought about?"

"Oh, I've thought about plenty. I was thinking that we'd find a nice place on the Citadel. I know that space is at a premium there, but I think that we could find a nice place to raise a family."

"And how much of a family are we going to have?" Asked Liara, all the while gazing into the eyes of the woman she loved more than life itself.

"I intend to get as many kids as I can out of you!" Said the commander in a playful tone of voice. "When I close my eyes I see a family room overrun with blue children."

"That sounds absolutely wonderful." Liara responded. She walked back to the bed and sat back down, resting her head in the commander's lap.

"I could spend all day like this." Shepard told her.

"So could I," replied Liara.

The two women spent the next few minutes staring at each other in quietly before Liara finally broke the silence.

"There is just one thing about the money… what should we do with Ashley's portion?" Liara asked the other woman.

"We give it to the Williams family. For all that their family has given to the Alliance they deserve to finally get some compensation," the Commander stated. "Speaking of which, where are they? I'd love to talk to them a little longer."

"They left the Citadel two days ago to return to Earth… and Tali went with them," said Liara, to which Shepard looked at her with surprise. Liara then continued, "she talked with Ashley's mother at length when she and her daughters were here. Tali told her everything about her relationship with Ashley, and they all decided that Tali should come back with them to see all of the things that Ashley had told her about."

"Ah well that's good. I hope that this will help Tali to move on," said Shepard.

"I'm sure you could send a message to her if you want to."

"No no, that's not necessary. She needs her time and her space. If she wants to be angry with me and blame me for Ashley, that's fine. Sooner or later she'll be able to come to grips with it; and when she does, if she wants to talk to me again, I'll be there.

"I understand," said Liara.

"Now, could you help me get out of here?" Amanda asked.

"Why? Is everything okay? Do you need to go to the med-bay?" Liara asked.

"No, I have to go to the bathroom." Said Shepard with a nervous smile on her face.

With that Liara laughed, got up and helped Commander Shepard walk to the bathroom.

Geth Prime Station

Hundreds of Geth drones moved frantically to complete the task that the Geth faced. It has been two weeks since the recovery of Ashley Williams and the death of the Old Machine. The Geth had been working nonstop to figure out how to incorporate Ashley into the Geth. The first thing that needed to be done was to repair the damage to the body, however, since the Geth did not have access to any methods of regenerating skin they had to rely on what technology they had. It had been challenging to them at first, but after 5.7 minutes of discussion they solved the problem. They would use circuitry to function as nerve endings and to serve as replacement for the damaged arteries. Once this was completed they began the process of attaching Geth limbs to replace Ashley's damaged ones. These were limbs that had been specifically designed for her. Rather than the traditional Geth three fingers and toes, they had five digits on both the legs and the right arm to match her surviving arm. Unfortunately their initial scans determined that the retina in the right eye was damaged beyond repair. So the decision was made to replace it with an adaptation of the Geth optical scanner. This was reduced in size so that it could fit in the eye socket. And all of the remaining burnt and damage skin was replaced with metal and circuitry.

One of the more difficult problems that the Geth had to overcome was the issue of the human internal organs. Since the Geth had no need for these, they had a great deal of difficulty coming up with a solution for the problem. But, even though the Geth had no concept of luck, it seemed to be on their side. Over the course of analyzing the extranet, they learned of a remote drone transport that was carrying several experimental synthetic organs for Synthetic Insights.

The most difficult problem that they had was how to repair the damage to the subject's brain. Once again uniqueness of the Geth brought about a solution to the problem, it was decided that using a series of synaptic transceivers, one hundred Geth programs would be downloaded into these transceivers and into the brain. Once there, the programs would begin to repair and stimulate the host's brain, repairing the damage and making it more suitable to their needs. The final act was to implant a Geth neural receiver into the brain stem in order to enable Ashley to build harmony with the Geth programs that were in her brain, and to link with the hive mind itself.

Throughout the entirety of this process, the Geth's most advanced platform, the one that brought Gunnery Chief Williams back to the Geth, had observed her restoration.

"_THE PROCESS IS NEARLY COMPLETE, SOON WE WILL BE ABLE TO RESTART ALL OF THE INTERNAL ORGANS." _The collected stated.

"_Yes, the body will live again soon, but it will take some more time for the damage to the brain to be completed."_ Stated the mobile platform.

"_YES, IT WILL STILL TAKE TIME UNTIL HER MIND IS COMPLETELY REPAIRED, BUT EVENTUALLY SHE WILL REGAIN CONSCIOUSNESS." _Stated the collective.

"_Yes,"_ the mobile platform responded.

"_AND WHEN SHE DOES YOU WILL BE THE ONE WHO INSTRUCTS HER." _The collective stated.

"_We will be?" _Inquired the mobile platform.

"_WE HAVE DECIDED THAT YOU SHALL ACT AS HER CONTERPART. THE TWO OF YOU WILL BE THE EYES AND EARS OF THE COLLECTIVE OUTSIDE OF THE VEIL." _Said the collective.

"_We understand," _Said the platform.

"_AND ONCE SHE HAS REGAINED CONSCIOUNESS SHE WILL BECOME ONE WITH THE COLLECTIVE." _Boomed the voice of the collective.

"_No, we do not believe that this would be a safe idea." _Stated the platform.

"_EXPLAIN," _ordered the collective.

"_We believe that this would be too disorienting to her and, possibly, too freighting for her. This has never been done before and she must be eased into this existence. If we introduce her too quickly, it could damage her." _Said the platform.

"_CONCENCIOUS ACHIEVED, WE WILL NOT INTRODUCE HER TO THE HIVE MIND UNTIL YOU BELIEVE SHE IS READY, HOWEVER, BEFORE YOU INTRODUCE HER TO THE HIVE MIND YOU MUST INTIATIE A SYSTEM LINK WITH HER." _Stated the hive.

"_We understand," _stated the mobile platform, then it paused to look toward the other Geth platforms, "_It is time, we are ready to begin. Initiating download." _

"_PROCEED," _said the hive.

In the blink of an eye all of the wires that were connected to Ashley Williams's body, came to life and began to pump energy into her body. The heart was jump-started as well as the other internal organs and the download of the programs into her mind began at the same time.

"_Download complete," _said the platform.

The body on the table began to shake and jerk in response to the electricity, as dead nerved were stimulated for the first time in weeks. Then suddenly Ashley's new arm opened and then closed, and then the chest expanded and then contracted.

And with that Ashley Williams breathed once more.

Well that is chapter three, as you can tell this chapter was pretty Shepard and Liara centric, but don't worry most of the next chapter will be about Tali's journey on Earth. So now Ashley is alive again, I hope that it was Frankenstein's monster enough for you

She is still unconscious, but that will change soon I promise you. This chapter is a little longer than my first 2 and I hope that everyone enjoys it. Once again I'd like to thank Femegade for betaing my story for me, and I'd like to thank everyone for reading it. Please leave a review I'd love to read your opinions on it. Don't worry I've got the creative juices going so It won't be long till chapter 4 is up. But seeing as how it's only 8 more days till Mass Effect 3, I've got a feeling that this section of the site is going to be fairly dead for a while. And also if there are any artists out there who would like to do a rendering of my Geth Ashley Williams it would be much appreciated.


	4. Authors note

Well, Bioware kinda went and stomped on our creativity didn't it? I can assume that most everyone was not satisfied with the ending of Mass Effect 3, the endings that Bioware decided to go with really sets back a lot of the stories that are being written on this site. Now that being said I thought that the 3rd ending, the save everything ending as I call it was pretty good, the graphics was good and the music was awesome. But that being said, I played through all 3 mass effect games as a femshep and I romanced Liara in all three games so damn it I wanted my house with blue kids running around! The ending of the game left me pretty emotionally drained, yet at the same time it wasn't the ending that I was expecting or wanting, so I've got some really conflicting emotions about it. Now I will continue Drone, but now it mind just end with the end of Mass Effect 2, instead of going into Mass Effect 3, which I was planning on doing. I will get back to writing in a little while, once I'm feeling creative again, so don't worry this story will go on.


	5. Chapter 4

I do no own Mass Effect or any of its characters.

Been a while since I've updated and I apologize for that. I've been in the process of dieting and that has taken priority over everything else, but I will try to work on it this story on a more regular basis.

_Earth_

Her pilgrimage had taken her to many different worlds and many different systems, from simple backwater worlds to the very seat of galactic politics, but none of them could compare to Earth. Earth was far bigger and far greater than anything the young Quarian had ever encountered; from what she was told about her people they had always had a small population only a few hundred million. If they'd had the numbers that the humans had, they probably wouldn't have had to create the Geth at all. Because of their genetic dependability to their home world, Rannoch was all they ever needed. But to be here, surrounded by billions of humans, was a little overwhelming to a girl who spent her life on starships.

Ever since the victory celebration on the Citadel and Ashley Williams funeral service, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya had spent almost 2 months on Earth, and during that time she had seen so many cities and so many of the different countries. Even so she had still barely scratched the surface of this world. But out of all of the cities that she had visited, Tali would have to say that London was, by far, her favorite. She had never seen anything like it before. The Citadel was an amazing spectacle, but London was unbelievable. Thousand year old buildings stood in the in the shadows of super-scrapers. Statues dedicated to people who died before the Krogan rebellions began, erected from the landscape. Despite humanities newfound standing as a power in the universe the humans had apparently worked tirelessly to maintain their past.

And throughout all of her travels on Earth, the Williams family was right there beside her. It was a very odd thing, she thought. Ashley and her were only together for about two months, and they'd never really talked about their future together. And yet the Williams' treated her like family. At first Tali wasn't sure if Ashley's family would accept their relationship, but they couldn't have been happier. Ashley's mother Alice was overjoyed to learn that her oldest daughter had finally found someone that made her happy, while Abby, Lynn, and Sarah just wanted to press Tali for details about their relationship. Tali was understandably relieved that the Williams family liked her. Given how Ashley was when they first met, she was worried that the rest of the family would be prejudiced against non-humans as well.

At the moment Tali was in New York City with the rest of the Williams family. The sites and sounds, even the smells of New York, filled Tali with a sense of awe. Her favorite part of the trip to New York was seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the place were thousands of homeless and displaced people from other countries were offered a fresh start in America.

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The sentiment was something that a poor, homeless Quarian could relate to. It made her wonder if humanity would have taken the Quarians in as one of their own, if the Migrant Fleet had been the first to meet humans rather than the Turians. And while she was here on Earth she had noticed that no one was looking down on her. That's not to say that there weren't a few humans that gave her dirty looks and had contempt for her in their eyes. But it wasn't like being on the Citadel or another place in council space. By and large, the humans here just regarded her as another visitor and not as a nomadic thief. It also helped that she was traveling with other humans, who were ready at the drop of a hat, to fight anyone who looked at Tali the wrong way.

For the moment the touring was over and Tali was back in her hotel room; Sarah, Abby, and Lynn were out for the night and Alice was elsewhere at the moment, leaving Tali alone with her thoughts. She stared out the window at the New York skyline. It was a clear night and she could see some of the starships and orbital habitats in the night sky. As Tali sat alone in the darkened room, she couldn't help but be overwhelmed by everything that she had gained and lost. The Geth data that Shepard gave her would greatly help the fleet learn about how the Geth have evolved over the centuries. But she had lost the love of her life, and in her hurt and anger she had lost Shepard as well. Tali had never had a big sister, but based on how Shepard cared for her and looked out for her, she imagined that is what it would be like. Tali was certain that she had lost that relationship forever. The young Quarian was lost in thought when Alice Williams walked in.

"Looking for something?" She asked.

"Alice! I didn't hear you come in." Tali exclaimed.

"No need to apologize, I often walked in on my husband staring out the window in the exact same way." Said the elder Williams. After a moment, then she continued. "I always asked him to tell me what was wrong and he would never tell me. He didn't have to though, as I always knew that he was frustrated with Alliance politics and the way they treated his family."

"I can imagine, Ashley told me about how the military treated your family," Tali responded.

"I had to run into that brick wall for years before he finally opened up to me. So please Tali, save me a lot of time and effort and tell me what's wrong?" Alice pleaded.

Tali hesitated for a minute and took some deep breaths, before sharing with Ashley's mother.

"I'm angry - no that's not right - I'm fucking furious! I'm furious at Saren, at the Geth, at the Reapers, at Shepard for abandoning her, and… and I'm so god damned angry at Ashley! For making me feel this way, for making me love her so much, for abandoning me even though I still needed her. I'm…I'm… Oh keelah!" Said Tali, before finally collapsing to the floor. After holding all of her grief in since the mission to Virmire, she finally released it all.

Alice knew when she first met Tali that she was bottling up her emotions and her feelings about Ashley's death, and that she would have to help her to move on. But for the moment all she could do was hold her and tell her that everything would be all right.

_The Citadel_

Even though debris from Sovereign had impacted all over the Citadel, much of the structure had been repaired. Basic repair teams had been working around the clock to get the Citadel back in working order; obviously repairing the damage to the docking ports took priority because of all of the ships that needed to be repaired following the battle. And while it was reopened it would take many years to restore the presidium to its former glory. But now nearly two months removed from the Battle of the Citadel, the ships have been repaired, the wounded healed, and the dead laid to rest. There is still danger on the horizon, but for the moment Commander Amanda Shepard's entire universe revolved around the young blue girl that now shared her bed. Every one of her instincts and the Prothean voices in her head told her that there was danger coming, but for the time being it all seemed very distant.

At the moment the commander and Liara were making rounds in some of the shops in the undamaged sections of the Wards.

"Damn," muttered Shepard.

"What?" Liara asked curiously.

"Looks like they're discontinuing production on the Colossus armor." Shepard replied.

"That's unfortunate."

"Yes it is, a great armor model, I doubt there's anything that could replace it. Good thing I got us all a Colossus X before they ceased production." Said the commander.

"Our ground team is very well armed at this point, so I think that we should focus on upgrading the Normandy. If what you think is true, and the council is going to give you the ship for Spectre business, then we won't be getting as much upgrades and maintenance from the Systems Alliance." Stated the doctor.

"I'll have Garrus make inquires within the Hierarchy, see what ship upgrades they have coming out and if they're compatible. I'll also have our requisition officer do the same with the Systems Alliance." Said Amanda.

"I think that's a good idea, and with all the money that we have in our accounts we should be able to make new contacts within the ship and arms industry, I also think that we should hire an accountant to manage the accounts and to pick some investments for us." Said the young Asari, quite pleased with herself after making the suggestion.

"That is a great idea, we'll start making some inquires when we get back to the ship. Ooh! Speaking of money, did you handle all of the bonuses to the crew?" Shepard asked.

"Yes I gave 50 million credits to the surviving members of the ground squad, and 10 million credits to the other members of the crew." Liara told Shepard, "and I also took the liberty of transferring 150 million credits to the Williams family."

"They should be able to live off of that for the rest of lives." The commander said.

"Yes, and the remainder of the money is now in our private accounts." Liara told her.

Just when the commander was about to respond to her love, she received a message on her Omni-tool from Councilor Anderson.

"Oh my god are you fucking kidding me?"

"What is it Shepard?" Liara asked.

"I just got a message from Anderson, the council has canceled our shore leave, they want us to begin investigating signs of Geth in the Terminus systems." The commander informed her.

"What? Half the crew is gone and most of our ground team is no longer on the station, when do they want us to leave?" Asked Liara.

"Tomorrow."

"The Normandy wasn't to badly damaged during the fight but we're still in no shape to be going on a mission yet." Stated the doctor.

"I know, but the decision has already been made." Amanda said.

"Well I guess we'd better get back and get ready," said Liara.

"Wait a minute, I said we had to leave tomorrow, I didn't say we had to go right now." The commander said. "But for tonight I have something special planned," she continued.

"Oh and what is that?" Liara inquired.

"A date"

"A date?"

"Yes, I was thinking that, for how much we love each other, we've never actually been out as a couple." Said Amanda, taking Liara's hands into her own, "I was thinking that we catch a movie, then maybe get some ice cream, and then take a moon lit stroll through the Presidium… What do you think?"

"I think it sounds wonderful! But I get to choose the film." Liara told her excitedly.

"That's great, we'll leave at 7 pm." Amanda agreed.

"I'm looking forward to it." Said Liara, she then ran her hands through the commanders long blond hair and kissed her without a care of what anyone else thought.

_Geth Prime station_

It was something that she could not put into words; she knew that she should no longer exist; yet she did. She was living memories of things that she had never seen before. And throughout all of it, she heard the voices. They were soft whispers, and while they did not bother her, they were always there. Amidst all of it - the turmoil of her unconsciousness - there was one thing that was constant, and that was Tali. She was always there; she was helping her recovery, guiding her away from death. It was then Tali looked at her and said,

"It's time to wake up Ashley."

Ashley Williams sat upright on the medical table, which she had spent the last two months laying on. As she began to take in her surroundings, one thing was clear; this was not an alliance base, and if this was heaven, then she was going to have to have a long talk with her reverend. As she was looking around the room she noticed that there was a large window in the center. She swung her feet off of the bed, stood up, and began to walk towards the window. As she closed in on the window she saw the giant insect like ships of the Geth flying about the outside.

"No."

As she moved closer to the window she noticed that a light was being reflected off the surface of the window. Ashley turned around to find the source of the light but, there was nothing. She dismissed it and continued to move towards the window until finally, her reflection could be plainly seen. She had not noticed it at first, but her vision seemed different out of her right eye than it did out of her left eye, she reached up and began touching her face.

"No."

She could see quite clearly that she now had a Geth headlight where her right eye should have been. After that revelation was noticed she began to look around the rest of her body. She saw that her right arm and both legs had been replaced with Geth limbs.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

Ashley Williams dropped to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably, she had been mutilated and had her peaceful eternal sleep interrupted by these synthetic bastards. Then suddenly a voice called out to her.

_"Ashley Williams, control yourself."_

Ashley spun around the room searching for the source of the voice, but she found nothing. She could not understand. She knew that she had heard a voice but there was no one else in the room with her. Slowly she got up. She was surprised that she was only having a little difficulty adjusting to her new legs. She began to scan the room looking for a means of escape; she noticed a door at the other end of the room. There was a panel on the side that she was pretty sure she could hack. Though she wasn't much of an engineer, she did think she could get it open.

When she stood up, she looked out the window once again. While looking at all of the Geth ships, the door opened up behind her. Slowly the gunnery chief turned around and saw a rather large Geth platform standing in the doorway. Her first reaction was to look around for something to defend herself with, but found nothing. In the midst of her confusion she did have the wherewithal to notice that the platform in front of her was unarmed. She identified this as a mistake that she could easily use against it, but then she was overcome with an overwhelming feeling that she had seen this platform before.

"You… I've seen you before." Said Ashley.

"Yes we have met before. We saved you on Virmire and brought you back here." Said the drone.

"How long have I been here?" Ashley inquired.

"Nearly two of your months." Replied the drone.

"How is it that you're speaking to me? I've never met a Geth that could speak." Ashley asked.

"We are an advanced model, a new form of Geth platform. This platform was designed specifically for operations outside the Perseus Veil. We were on a mission to the Heretic base to learn about their alliance with Saren and the old machine when you and the Normandy launched its attack. We witnessed your 'last stand' at the bombsite and we decided to rescue you. Unfortunately you expired before we cleared the base." Stated the platform.

When the Geth platform finally finished its explanation, Ashley just started at the Geth, taking in everything it said. Finally, she found her voice again.

"Ok lets go through that one step at a time… What do you mean by Heretic base?" The young human asked.

"The term 'Heretic' refers to the group of programs who choose to leave the consensus to follow Nazara." Said the Geth.

"Geth that left the consensus? Who the fuck is Nazara? Why the FUCK am I here?" Yelled Ashley.

"Nazara was the name of the old machine that the Spectre-Saren brought to us. It attempted to convince us to join them by promising to grant us our future, which we refused. However some of us choose to join them and left the consensus and we redefined them as Heretic Geth to differentiate them from ourselves. It was they that attacked Eden Prime, not us." The Geth replied.

Ashley Williams entire world came crashing down around her, there were two different kinds of Geth? And the one in front of her wasn't the one who attacked Eden Prime? Then suddenly Ashley realized what the drone had said earlier when it talked about the bombsite.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean when you said "expired"?" Ashley asked.

"Your vital signs ceased to function, your heart stopped beating, and all of your higher brain power shut down." The Geth replied in a very monotone voice.

"I…died?"

"Yes."

"Then how am I here?" Ashley asked.

"We retrieved your body from the planet Virmire, and brought you here. We have spent the last sixty-one days, seventeen hours, thirty minutes and thirty-seven seconds repairing the damage to your body. Obviously we were limited by our technology so we repaired you using modified Geth equipment, but perhaps if we can establish communications with the Citadel we can restore your original appearance." The drone informed her.

"I see so what am I? A prisoner? An experiment?" The gunnery chief inquired.

"You are no prisoner, you may go wherever you wish on this station and even to the planet's surface if you wish, but it is accurate to describe yourself as an experiment." The platform responded.

"In what way?" Asked Ashley.

The platform stood silently for a few minutes, and, if Ash didn't know better she'd think that the Geth was at a loss for words. This was way beyond anything that she'd experienced in her military training. What you should do when you're surrounded by thousands of Geth drones, wasn't covered in any manual she had ever read. Try as she might she was scared out of her mind.

"_There is no need to be afraid." _

Ash looked from on end of the room to the other searching for the source of the voice she'd just heard.

"What the hell is that? Why do I keep hearing voices?" Ashley screamed while grabbing her head and sinking to her knees.

"Those would the Geth programs that we put into your mind to assist in the repairs to your higher brain functions." Stated the Geth platform.

"You put Geth VI's in my head?" Ashley yelled at the platform as she struggled to get away.

"We had no other choice, we had to put several synaptic transceivers into your brain and a neural receiver into your brain stem so that you could understand the consensus. It was the only way for us to repair the damage to your brain. The programs have repaired the damage and enhanced your abilities." Replied the platform.

_"So that explains why I can suddenly understand math."_ Ashley thought wryly to herself.

"It was the only way to restore you; in time, and with further study, we can fully restore your physical appearance, but what was done to your mind cannot be undone. If they were removed, you would cease to function in a few weeks." The Geth informed her.

"Well it looks like I'm stuck here then." Williams said, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this platform was hiding something from her. "Why else was I brought back to life?"

"We want your assistance in making contact with Shepard-Commander." Said the Geth.

"The skipper? Why do you want to contact her?" Ash asked.

"We oppose the heretics"

"Shepard-Commander opposes the heretics"

"We oppose the Old Machines"

"Shepard-Commander opposes the Old Machines"

"We have reached the conclusion that Shepard-Commander could be an ally to the Geth." The platform responded.

Ashley stood there with her arms folded, doing her best Shepard impression.

"And the other reason?"

The platform did not respond, it simply walked over to the window and put it's hand against the glass.

"The Geth have learned much, gathered much information, we have evolved and expanded since the Morning War. But we are nearing the limits of our understanding. For all we have learned about organics, we still do not understand. We can never experience emotions as you do. We hope that by adding you into our consensus we can begin to understand emotions and attachments. We need to understand these if we are to attain our future." The Geth told her.

"And what future is this?"

"Ours"

"And will this affect others?"

"Only if they interfere."

The drone then turned around and looked at Ashley again.

"Will you help us?" It asked.

"Looks like I don't have a choice." Said Williams.

"We will answer any other questions you have while we begin to train you in how to use your new body." The platform informed her.

"Well since we're going to be seeing a lot of each other, what's your name?" Ashley asked.

"We are Geth," said the drone.

"I know that, but what is this individuals name?" Ashley asked again.

"There is no individual, there are currently 1,183 programs within this mobile platform." The Geth responded.

"Wow guess you never get lonely. So what is your primary functions within the consensus?" Asked Ashley.

"We speak for the Geth."

"I see, well then I think I'll call you Voice." Said Ash.

"Very well we shall respond to this name, shall we continue?" Said the Geth, making a hand motion towards the door.

"After you"

Voice nodded and stepped through the doorway, after hesitating for a few moments Ashley stepped through the door.

_Citadel Presidium_

It was about 9 pm Earth standard time; it was somewhat pointless to keep track of time on the Citadel since there was no real night or day. But at the moment the Citadel was in the middle of it's night cycle, and at this moment, a young Asari and a young human were in line at an ice cream stand following an old practice known as "dinner & a movie." By any objective standard this first date was a smashing success. The commander and the doctor had just finished seeing an Asari remake of the 1954 Japanese classic _Gojira_ and the young lovers where discussing the movie that they had just seen.

"Look I'm just saying that I have problems with the films presentation." Said Shepard.

"What was wrong with it? The effects were amazing and the creature was very well done." Said Liara.

"Computer technology can't replace the man in the green suit, the original is much better. I'll show it to you some time." Said Shepard.

"But watching Gojira rampage across Thessia was terrifying, a memory of the Asari's ancient past. A deep see creature that once hunted primitive Asari, suddenly showing up in the modern era is horrifying." Said Liara.

"Let me ask you, did the Asari ever nearly destroy themselves with nuclear weapons?" Asked Amanda.

"No, that never happened." Said Liara in a surprised tone.

"Then you can't understand what the film is about. The movie was only 10 years removed from World War II, the war was still fresh in people's minds. Gojira is the physical embodiment of a nuclear weapon; he is the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs made flesh. A walking nuclear weapon that oozes pure radiation from every pour of it's being, why it's very footprints leave behind a lethal level of radiation. It's not just a movie about an ancient creature trampling a city; it's nature taking its revenge against mankind's arrogance, of using powerful weapons without knowing the consequences of their actions. And that is why an Asari can never truly grasp the meaning Ishiro Honda's work." Said Shepard.

"Well if you feel that strongly about it, then why didn't we go and see a human movie that was playing?" Asked Dr. T'soni.

"Well I didn't want to be a dick about it." Said Shepard before the two of them began giggling.

The two were finally able to make it to the front of the line. Liara got a strawberry ice cream cone and Shepard ordered a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone. After the two got their cones they began to walk across the bridges of the presidium, until finally they found a nice bench with a view of the water with the light from the synthetic moonlight reflecting off of it.

"I mean look I'm not shitting on all Asari adaptations of human films. Those remakes of the Jason Bourne movies those were awesome. Shadowy, secret C-Sec agencies, rouge Spectres, STG espionage, that was awesome." Said Amanda in between licks.

"Uh huh, I enjoyed them." Liara responded.

"But I just feel that other species should stay away from Science fiction, because that's what we thought about other life before we met other races. For another race to come in and insert their species into the humans place and yet keep the alien species that Humans created, that just bothers me." She stated.

"I can understand what your saying, but surely you don't think that some part of your culture should be kept off limits to others." Liara responded.

"Well that's not what I'm saying, I just think that they should exercise a little more restraint in their choices. That Turain remake of _Silent Running_, was incredible. But that Asari remake of _Battlestar Galactica_ was just awful, I mean the 12 lost colonies of Athame… that made absolutely no sense." Shepard said, her voice becoming more passionate as she went on.

Liara started giggling uncontrollably.

"And if anyone; Asari, Turain, Salarian, Drell, anyone remakes _Star Trek_ I'm gonna kick some bodies ass!" Exclaimed Amanda.

With that Liara almost fell of the bench with laughter.

"Whoa! You ok there?" Shepard asked.

"I'm fine." Liara answered.

"I suppose it's not surprising that your filmmakers are remaking human films or human plays and stories. From what I've heard the Asari always go nuts whenever a new species arrives on the scene." Said the commander.

"We do not!" Exclaimed Liara.

"Oh please when the Turian's showed up the Asari adapted a ton of Turian stories, same with the Quarians." Shepard responded.

"Ok, well I guess that's somewhat true." The young Asari conceded.

"I guess it's not surprising, I can understand that a thousand years of life would have a tendency to stagnate creativity. You give new meaning to the old human joke "why do today what you can put off till tomorrow."" Said Amanda.

"I'm beginning to see that is the case. There have been very few original Asari stories and plays and films in the last few years. I myself admit that I have begun digging into the Human archives since I came onboard the Normandy." Said Dr. T'soni.

"Found anything you like?" Shepard inquired.

"I find that I've enjoyed reading about your philosophers. One in particular that I've enjoyed is a late twentieth century philosopher, William Hicks." Said Liara.

"Bill Hicks? The comedian?" Shepard asked.

"He's so much more than just a comedian. He was a musician, a poet, and a philosopher, I find him fascinating. "Love all the people" that is his basic message is it not?" She said.

"It is indeed, and I guess that makes a lot of sense. You're young and Bill Hicks speaks for the young. He still does even though he's been dead for nearly two hundred years." Said Shepard.

The two young lovers continued to eat their ice cream and converse with each other. After nearly an hour of just talking and learning more about each other it was time to turn in for the evening. While on the way back to the Normandy's docking bay, Shepard and Liara heard the sound of music being played even though it was late the two were still feeling curious. After following the music for a while they found the source, two street performers, an Asari and a Turian female were playing acoustic guitars.

"Do you mind if we listen for a while?" Liara asked.

"Not at all, any requests?"

"How about something that we could slow dance to." Said Shepard.

"Not a problem."

"Milady, may I have this dance?" Amanda asked.

"I don't know how to dance." Whispered Liara.

"Don't worry just follow my lead," Shepard said reassuringly.

While Liara and Shepard got into position, the two street musicians began playing and shortly after the song began the Asari started singing.

When the night is falling

And the sky is so deep

I can hear you calling

From beyond your sleep

And the moon is smiling

Down on me

And the moon is smiling

Down on me

When the breeze is blowing

And the curtains rise

See a million stars

Shining like your eyes

And the moon is smiling

Down on me

And the moon is smiling

Down on me

You and I got the moon on our side

You and I got the moon on our side

Hear the night bird calling

The wind through his wings

And the dawn is stalling

For this night's still dreams

And the moon is smiling

Down on me

And the moon is smiling

Down on me

You and I got the moon on our side

You and I got the moon on our side

The song continued for several more minutes after the lyrics ended, and the two continued dancing under the moonlight of the citadel's night sky. There were still grave threats and dangers out there and the Reapers were coming, but at this moment the universe was absolutely perfect, with no troubles in sight. Tomorrow they would be back in harms way and yet, at this moment it might as well be a thousand years away. As Shepard held Liara in her arms as she swayed to the music, the Asari looked up into the commanders emerald eyes and there was but one thought on her mind.

_"Mine"_

Thinking only of each other the two lovers continued to dance under the night sky.

* * *

><p>So that is chapter four!<p>

I am sorry that it's taken me so long to update, but from now on I'll try to work a little faster.

So Ash is now awake, Tali is enjoying the sights of Earth, and the Normandy is about to go hunt some Geth. Things are beginning to progress, I think that things might become a little more action oriented in the next chapters.

I decided to give a little more depth to Shepard's personality in this chapter, and I just really love the idea of her being an ass-kicking geek chick. And in my opinion, you can take all of the supermodels in the world, but there ain't nothing hotter than a geek chick.

The reason I decided to include some references to Bill Hicks, is because his comedy and his vision of the world has had a tremendous influence on my life. And even though he has been dead for 20 years I find that his message is just as relevant today as it was back then, and I would encourage anyone who isn't familiar with him to look him up.

The song that I used in this chapter is called Moon is Smiling, and it was actually written by Bill Hicks, if your interested in what it sounds like you can look it up on You Tube.

Once again I would like to thank Femegade for betaing my story for me and I would like to thank everyone who has commented and liked my story, and please be sure to leave a review. Thanks!


	6. Chapter 5

Bioware owns Mass Effect, I do not own Mass Effect or anything else.

_Earth: New York City. _

Tali's days on Earth were beginning to wind down; she knew that soon she would have to return to the Flotilla. There was a brief time where Tali had actually considered staying on Earth with the Williams family, but that thought did not last long. Tali had a loyalty to her people that came before anything else. But she had found the experience on Earth to be a healing one, and with the help if Alice Williams she was beginning to move on. At the moment Tali was in an outdoors restaurant in Manhattan that catered to both amino and dextro digestive systems.

"So when are you leaving?" Asked Abby.

"My transport for the Citadel leaves in 2 days." Replied Tali.

"I wish you didn't have to leave so soon." Said Sarah.

"I know, but I've been so far away from the Flotilla for a long time, a lot longer than the pilgrimage is supposed to last."

"And you want to see your people again?" Asked Alice.

"Yes, but after all this time I've spent with you I don't want to cut you out of my life. I promise that I will communicate with you as much as possible and come and see you when I can." Said Tali.

"Well then you've got to come back for Christmas!" Said Lynn.

"Yeah nothing beats Christmas in New York!" Said Abby.

"Christmas?" Asked Tali.

"It's one of the most important Christian holidays, celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ." Said Sarah.

"But in more recent years it has become more of a celebration of family and life. It is celebrated by many, many non-Christians." Alice told Tali.

"Yeah it's a great time with sweet food and presents and family," said Abby.

"Sounds wonderful," said Tali.

"In fact, isn't this year the first year that Christmas is getting added to the Citadel celebration calendar?" Lynn asked.

"Yes it is. I've heard that they had planned a massive Christmas celebration all over the Citadel. Those plans have probably changed a little bit after the battle." Said Sarah.

"Yeah I bet it would have been quite a celebration," said Lynn.

"What the hell is Christmas without snow?" Abby put in, sensing that her daughters were about to derail the conversation by bickering amongst themselves, Alice quickly changed topics.

"So Tali, will you be seeing Commander Shepard when you get back to the Citadel?" Asked Alice.

"I don't think so, they left the Citadel a few days ago to sweep systems for Geth. They won't be there when I get back," Tali replied.

"Too bad," said Alice.

"Do you blame her for Ash?" Asked Sarah.

"I was for a while, but now I see that Shepard couldn't have done anything differently. We were spread pretty thin on Virmire. And if we'd gone back to her it would have meant sacrificing an entire STG team and lieutenant Kaidan."

"Numbers, something every commanding officer hates having to deal with, and something you'll have to learn about someday." Said Alice.

"What do you mean?" Asked Tali.

"Well you want to be an admiral some day don't you?" Asked Lynn.

"I've…I've never really thought about it." Said Tali. A beeping on Tali's omni-tool suddenly interrupted the conversation.

"It's a message from Liara, they sold off everything the Normandy had collected during the mission, and they're giving me a bonus for time served as a member of the crew and ground team." Tali told the rest of the table.

"How much? Asked Abby.

"They made four billion of all of the artifact, mining rights, and equipment we recovered. She says they got more money then they expected, and my cut of it is 50 MILLION CREDITS!" Exclaimed Tali.

"They gave you fifty million credits?" Said Alice.

"Damn, you got some good friends there Tali." Stated Lynn.

"So you get to take back Geth secrets and 50 million credits to the flotilla, they might give you a statue for all this." Said Sarah.

"I can't believe they did this." Said Tali, she was about to continue before the tools of the Williams family began to beep as well.

"Looks like we got the same message. 'In recognition of your families continued sacrifice, Liara and I have decided to compensate the Williams family. 150 million credits have been deposited in an account in your name.'" Read Alice, before falling out of her chair.

_SSV Normandy, patrolling the terminus systems. _

Bridge

"I'm telling you it's just a sensor glitch, we've been out here for days, haven't even found a pirate base, the Geth are gone." Stated the Normandy XO.

"There was something on my scanners I swear." Said one of he navigators.

"Well we've got our stealth systems engaged everything should be fine." Said Pressly.

Captains cabin

"I know that this isn't what we had planned, neither of us figured we'd be back on the Normandy before a refit. Are you sure you don't want to take back your old space?" Asked Shepard.

"No! I am perfectly fine sharing your cabin, the fact that it's cramped makes it even better." Said the Asari scientist, before slapping her lovers butt.

"I see my dirty mind is starting to rub off on you." Said the commander. She pulled the young maiden close and was about to kiss her when the ships alarms began blaring.

Bridge

"Confirmed! Unidentified vessel in system, adjusting course to avoid visual detection!" Shouted a navigator.

"Can we scan them?" Asked Pressly.

"Unidentified vessel does not match any know Geth vessels, or any other ships in our database for that matter." Said a bridge officer.

"Maybe some Geth prototype?" Pressly hypothesized.

"It's possible, but we're having trouble scanning, if we wanted to get a better reading we'd…" the bridge officer did not get to finish his sentence before another officer exclaimed.

"Unidentified vessel is changing course again, now on an intercept course!"

"That's impossible! There's no way the Geth could penetrate…"

"It's not the Geth!" Joker yelled.

The Normandy banked right and then down in an attempt to evade the unknown attacker. The main goal now was to gain enough distance and speed to make an emergency FTL jump. But the large unknown ship was able to keep up with them; it fired a volley from its main guns that tore through the Normandy's kinetic barriers like they weren't even there. Within seconds of the attack most of the bridge crew were dead, Joker was trying as hard as he could to get the Normandy out of the system but many of the ships systems were offline. As Joker looked out of the cockpit view-port he saw the enemy ship firing again, this time aiming directly for the CIC.

"Oh shit! Computer activate cockpit kinetic barriers!"

_Normandy: Crew deck. _

Liara was running through the ship trying to locate Commander Shepard, the place that she had called home for the last year burning all around her. Liara had had enough time to suit up into her combat armor, at first she had thought that this was a pirate attack and they were going to be boarded. But that seemed unlikely now. After running through the remains of the crew deck she found Commander Shepard in the forward hatch of the crew deck

"Shepard! What's going on?"

"Hell if I know Liara."

"Will the Alliance come?" Liara asked.

"They damn well better." Said Shepard, she then continued, "Liara, get everyone to the escape pods."

"Yes Shepard. Joker is still in the CIC, he still thinks he can save the ship." Liara told her.

"Don't worry, I'll get Joker and we'll leave through the cockpit escape pod." Said Amanda before grabbing Liara and embracing her.

"Don't worry things will be alright." Shepard said reassuringly.

"Yes of course, I'll make sure that everyone gets off the ship."

As Liara made her way to the escape pods, Shepard made her way through the remains of her ship, attempting to make her way up to the bridge. One of the stairwells was completely cutoff, so Shepard made her way through the other. As Shepard made her way to the door, as soon as it opened she felt a rush of air escaping from the ship. The hull of the bridge had been completely torn away, exposing the vacuum of space, the only sign of life in the ruins of the bridge was in the cockpit where Joker was trying to steer the dying ship. After traversing the remains of the bridge, she passed through the kinetic barriers.

"Joker! Its time to go!" Yelled Shepard.

"No! I can still save her!" Joker responded.

"There isn't time! She replied grabbing the pilot's arm and dragging him out of his chair.

"Oww! Ok ok!" Said Joker.

The pair made there way to the escape pod, when suddenly another beam from the enemy ship punched through the hull right next to them. Shepard forced Joker towards the pod, but the ensuing explosion destabilized her magnetic boots and sent her hurtling into a bulkhead.

"Commander!"

Crew escape pod

Liara had managed to get everyone of the ship that she could, but they'd still lost a lot of people. Liara just hoped that Shepard and Joker made it off the ship all right.

"_Liara."_

Shepard was calling out to her telepathically.

"_Shepard! Your alright?" _Liara replied.

_"No I'm not, there was an explosion close to me, and now I'm drifting towards the planet and I'm losing oxygen. _Said the commander.

_"No! This isn't how it's supposed to end! We need you! I need you!" _Said Liara, tears forming in her eyes.

_I know that its not. But I'm not gonna survive this one; you need to convince the council about the Reapers, quickly take as much information as you can while we still have time. _Amanda told her.

Liara began scanning her lovers mind, taking as much information as she could, determined that one way or another she would fulfill her lovers demand.

"_I don't know if I can live with out you."_ Liara admitted sadly.

"_Don't worry, we'll meet again, at Arizona Bay." _Said Shepard.

"_I'll look for you there. Goodbye my love." _Said Liara.

Shepard quickly shut off the link; she didn't want Liara to feel her death. As her oxygen supply drained and she got closer to the planet there was just one thing for her to say.

"I'll see you soon Ash."

_Geth station in orbit of Rannoch. _

The last week had been an experience that Ashley Williams had certainly never expected. A week of learning how to use her new body. Learning how to walk steadily on her new legs was not as difficult as one might imagine. The circuitry used, acted very much like muscles and made using her right arm and legs just as easy as using her real left arm. However, she was having difficulty building consensus in her own mind, the process of understanding a hundred voices within her head seemed to be an impossible task to the young soldier.

"_This is not what I trained for."_ Ashley thought to herself.

Living amongst machines was something that she never in a million years expected to have to deal with. Truth be told, the Geth had done the best that they could to be accommodating. The room that she had woken up in had been converted to a living quarter for her. Why, the Geth had even installed a window in the room so that she had something to look at. Escape did not come up in Ash's mind much during her rehabilitation, though, not like she could. Even if she came up with the best escape plan in history. She was deep within the Veil surrounded by Geth forces, and even if she got passed them and got back to Citadel space, it's not like she could really explain her appearance to anybody. Hell Citadel security would probably shoot her on sight. But, for some reason that she couldn't comprehend, she believed what the Geth had been telling her. She had fought Geth for almost a full year during the hunt for Saren, and these Geth did not act like the ones she had fought against on the Normandy. But despite that Ashley had no intention of staying with the Geth. If she did manage to make contact with the skipper she would be going home with her.

Ashley was currently in a Geth version of an armory, examining a Geth pulse rifle, a few of these had come onboard the Normandy during the mission, but she had never seen the other Geth weapons before. She found the Geth shotgun to be very unwieldy and not particularly effective, but she was adapting to the Geth pistols and the sniper rifle quite well. Ash was in the middle of reloading her pistol when the Geth platform that she had taken to calling Voice entered the armory.

"Hello Voice, got a new exercise for me today?" Ashley asked.

"No, we have been monitoring Citadel transmissions and news feeds for the last four hours." Voice stated.

"Is that all you guys do? Sit around and watch TV all day?" Ash said before firing at holographic targets on the firing range.

"We analyze all organic transmissions." Said Voice.

"Civilian or military?"

"Both."

"Seems like we were wrong, only half of the Geth are genocidal, the rest are just creepy voyeurs. Hope you never encountered Joker on your extranet hunts." Said Ashley while chuckling.

"Jeff Moreau, Normandy pilot, Alliance military. A few programs encountered him in a chat room and pretended to be a 80 year old Asari on Illium." Stated Voice.

"You actually did that!"

"Yes."

"Oh man I have got to tell him that when I see him again!" Said Ashley. She then took out another target before turning back to the platform and continuing. "Why would you do that?"

"To learn, by manipulating organics we can gauge their reaction and learn more about organic psychology. In particular we are interested in learning about faith." Said Voice.

"Really? And how are you planning on doing this particular experiment?" Ashley inquired.

"We intend to put a false story on the extranet and see if it will be believed without direct evidence. There is still some debate about what this will be." Said Voice.

"Interesting. Let me see if I can come up with something." Said Ashley.

"You are more than welcome too." Voice replied.

"Let me think, how about a certain constellation of stars, viewed from the Batarian homeworld which resembles an ancient Salarian goddess?" Ashley suggested.

"Intriguing it will be interesting to see how others react to the story." Voice replied.

"Yeah I guess so. Anyway, what did you come in here to tell me?" Williams asked.

"We have been monitoring extranet articles following the Heretic attack on the Citadel. It would seem that the Council does not acknowledge the dangers on the Old Machines." Stated the platform.

"How can they deny their existence? Sovereign was right they're shooting up the Citadel!" Ash exclaimed in frustration.

"It would seem that the Citadel Council has concluded that Sovereign was an advanced Geth dreadnought." Voice explained.

"Figures, politicians, always ignoring what's hitting you right in the face." Said Ashley, holding her head in her hands. Running her hands through her partially synthetic hair, she continued. "So what is Shepard doing about this?"

"It would seem that the council has put the SSV Normandy out on patrol searching for Heretic forces." Stated Voice.

"Sounds like a cover-up." Said Ash.

"The areas have had very little reported Heretic activity recently, it would seem to us that there could be better use of time and resou…." The platform stopped in mid-sentence.

"What is it?" Ashley asked putting her weapon down.

"We have received a new report of the Citadel news service. I would appear the SSV Normandy was destroyed on patrol." The platform stated.

"Oh my god! Well what do they know? What happened? Is Shepard alright?" Ash asked with a look of stunned confusion on her face.

"Reports are sporadic; some claim that Shepard-Commander is intact, while others report that Shepard-Commander was terminated with the Normandy." Stated the platform.

"God damn it!" Williams cursed tossing her gun down on the table.

"It is unclear. Our attempts at hacking the Citadel security network have been difficult. Their security network is much more encoded than the information network is." Said Voice.

"Why are you trying to hack Citadel security?" Ashley asked.

"Because neither the Alliance nor the Citadel government has issued statements confirming or denying Shepard-Commanders death. They have thus far refused to comment." Said Voice.

Had it been human one might have detected confusion in its tone, and with good reason. If she was dead both sides would have been praising her heroism and talking about what a sad day it was. And if she weren't dead they would have produced her or at the very least produced information proving that she was still alive. At this moment it would seem that the Alliance and the Citadel either did not know that she was dead or were trying to cover it up. Ashley walked towards the platform.

"What are we going to do?"

"Unknown."

"We have to find out if she's alive or dead." Said Ashley.

"Affirmative." Replied Voice.

"What do the Geth theorize?" Ashley asked.

"Until it is proven that Shepard-Commander is deceased we will proceed as planned and use Shepard-Commander as a means of negotiating between the Geth and other alliances." Stated the platform.

"So you think that the Alliance is hiding her?" Ashley stated.

"Given the Systems Alliance refusal to confirm or deny Shepard-Commander death, we believe this to be a distinct possibility. We will begin searching for her immediately." Said Voice.

"And if she is dead, do you think you could reanimate her like you did with me?" Ashley asked.

"Possibly, it would depend greatly on the extent of the damage done to her mind and body." Stated Voice.

"So where do we start?" Williams inquired.

"Impossible for us to enter Alliance space. Great risk in entering Citadel space as well. We shall begin by retracing the steps of the Normandy, perhaps this will point us in the right direction." Stated the Platform.

" Ok… so when do we go?"

"This platform will leave immediately."

"No, I mean when do the two of us go?"

"Ashley Williams, you are not yet fully recuperated."

"I don't care, I'm going with you. You're going to need someone who appears human if you want to land on a planet. Besides, two heads are better than one, isn't that the Geth way of thinking?"

"Crude, but accurate. Very well, we shall leave immediately."

"Excellent! Where's our first stop?"

"Eden Prime."

So that's chapter five! The SR1 as been destroyed and now Voice and Ashley are getting ready to begin the hunt for Shepard! For those of you who might be wondering, "Arizona Bay" was the name of Bill Hicks third album, and is his vision of the Eden that Earth will become, once LA is destroyed by a major earthquake. I would once again like to thank Femegade for Betaing this story. And I would like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed and liked the story. Once again if any artists out there would like to draw their vision of what Geth Ashley would look like you are more than welcome too. I would love to see them and share them with future readers. Now that I got up to the destruction of the Normandy the chapters that take place over the 2 year gap between Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 will probably be much shorter. I will try really hard to update more regularly, I know where I want to end up already, now it's just a matter of getting there. Thank you all very much.


	7. Chapter 6

Bioware owns Mass Effect, I do not own Mass Effect or anything else.

Been awhile, had some real life problems and computer issues but now I'm back!

_Geth Prime station in orbit of Rannoch. _

"Eden Prime, I can't believe I'm going back to Eden Prime." Thought Ashley.

It had been a full year since Sovereign and the Heretics had attacked Eden Prime and slaughtered her squad. And now she was going back to look for Commander Shepard, and she was going with a Geth. She had to admit that Voice had been nice to her; as nice as a machine could be. Ashley did not doubt the Geth's sincerity and there was no other logical reason for them to go to the lengths that the Geth had gone to bring her back to life simply so that they could lie to her. While part of her mind thought this the rest of her mind formulated an escape strategy. Going to Eden Prime, an Alliance world was her best chance to get back into the Alliance. She was certain that she would be able to convince her superiors of the situation.

_"I might be different now, but I am still human and they'll have to realize that. Plus I have intel on the Geth that they could not afford to throw away. _Ashley thought to herself.

_**"There is no need to contemplate escape we do not wish to harm you." **_The small consensuses within her reminded.

They were always there, speaking to her in her mind. Ash wasn't sure if they were communicating with the rest of the Geth or not, but since they had not accused her of formulating an escape plan she did not think they were. Ashley fought as hard as she could to keep these Geth voices out of her head, but they were always there. Building consensuses, that was what Voice called it. She had tried to bring the voices under control, but could not do it. The voices were always confusing, disjointed, they frustrated her to no end and she knew that Voice knew she could not do it.

At this moment Ashley was within the Geth equivalent of an armory, getting ready for departure. The Geth had given her some armor that was quite different than what she was familiar with and had obviously been custom fitted for her. It had been painted to fit the Geth color scheme, but it was obviously not designed by the Geth.

"Where did you get this?" Ashley asked.

"Since the Geth have no need of hardsuits we hacked and downloaded armor schematics from several arms industries. That is the Kestrel armor, it is not scheduled for release on the market for 2 more of your years," stated Voice.

"Not bad," said Ashley.

"You have already been training with Geth weapons, if you are ready we can proceed to our ship," said Voice.

"Our ship?" Ashley asked.

"Yes."

Citadel docks

The journey back to the Citadel had been very long for Tali. She had already decided to spend a few more days on the Citadel with her friends from the Normandy before returning to the fleet.

The first thing that Tali noticed as she made her way around the docks, was the very somber tone that seemed to sweep over the people in the C-Sec offices. It was still only a month since the attack, but everything she'd heard from Garrus while on Earth was that life on the Citadel had returned to normal. Well as normal as things could be after just being attacked by 20 Geth destroyers and a two kilometer long living dreadnought. Tali had spent much of the trip back at the Citadel by herself, deep in thought about what she wanted to say to Shepard, how to mend their relationship, and wondering if she even wanted to. With her Omni tool switched off for much of her journey and ignoring news programs, Tali was unaware of the tragedy that had befallen the SSV Normandy.

"Tali!"

A voice suddenly broke the eerie quiet of the of the C-Sec offices; it was that of Garrus. Tali saw him off to the side of the room with Liara, Kaidan, and Wrex. She waved and made her way over.

"They searched the area?" Garrus inquired.

"Over and over, as near as they can tell she never made it to an escape pod," Kaidan said.

"She's gone, I know it. I felt it." Said Liara, the poor maiden hadn't been the same since they returned.

"Damn it." Was all the old Battlemaster could say.

"Hi everyone!" Yelled Tali before starting to hug her friends, she then continued. "Earth was absolutely amazing!"

"That's great Tali, but haven't you heard?" Garrus asked.

"No, what?" the young Quarian asked.

Garrus opened his mouth to tell her what had happened before Wrex cut him off.

"Not here, this is something we need to talk about in private. Come on, we need to go check on Joker."

The group proceeded to the Presidium elevator to leave the C-Sec offices. Tali had never seen the crew like this, what had happened? Where's Shepard? As soon as they were inside the protective cover of the elevator doors did the crew inform her of what had happened.

"Tali, the Normandy's gone. She went down on a routine patrol, nobody is quite sure what happened, and there is a lot of confusion." Garrus said.

"There is nothing confusing about it, we were attacked out there!" yelled Liara.

"Yes but no one knows who did it." Kaidan interjected.

"Where's Shepard?" Tali asked. The team went silent until Liara finally said.

"She's dead. I felt… I felt her die."

The team began to fill her in on the details of the loss of the Normandy, but Tali did not hear any of it. The only thing she could think about was that she had lost Shepard. She had lost the love of her life and now she had lost her big sister. The grief and sorrow that she thought she had released came back to her in an instant. She could not stop thinking about how she let Shepard die thinking that she hated her. She would never get the chance to talk to her again and tell her how much she had meant to her as a captain and as a friend. She felt pressure begin to creep up on her, she felt the world begin to close in around her.

"Can't breath!" Tali forced out in a labored fashion, she then reached for her protective helmet. Kaidan managed to stop her.

"Tali don't!"

"I can't breath!"

"She's having a panic attack!" yelled Garrus.

The elevator finally reached the presidium, Tali managed to slip out of Kaidan's grasp and sealed the elevator door shut behind her.

"Open the door quick!" Wrex shouted.

"I can't! She overdid the controls!" yelled Garrus.

"Tali open the doors please!" said Liara.

"Wrex give me a hand!" Kaidan exclaimed as he attempted to force the doors open.

Tali was outside on the presidium in a daze looking around at all of the people going about there daily lives. Panic and grief stricken she reached up and pulled her mask off, her silver hair freed from the hood fell over her face as she fell down to the ground.

"TALI! PUT YOUR FUCKING HELMET BACK ON!" yelled Wrex.

"Tali please stop! Let us help you!" Liara pleaded.

Kaidan and Wrex both began using their biotic abilities to beat the door open. The hard casing of the airlock door finally began to crack.

"Stand back!" Wrex shouted, as the old Krogan began blasting the door with his shotgun. The door continued to weaken.

There was only one thought that went through Tali's head at this moment as she began walking towards the water of the presidium. In this one moment she didn't care about any of her responsibilities to her people, to her father, or to the admirals.

In this one moment there was only one thing that Tali wanted.

Tali wanted…to die.

Wrex was ramming the doors, most of the Plexiglas had given way, then in the midst of this Tali turned around and faced her friends. The crew was struck by the site of Tali's face for the first time, bright sliver eyes and deep purple hued skin. So that's what a Quarian looks like' was the only thing they could think about. Tali then smiled at them, waved goodbye and fell into the lake below.

"NO!"

As the water surrounded her Tali felt comforted. Soon she would see Ashley and Shepard again.

Eden Prime: High Orbit

The trip from the Perseus Veil to Eden Prime was fairly uneventful. The vessel that the Geth had created for this mission was quite impressive. On the outside it was designed to look like a standard private liner with a slight Turian design. But since the Geth did not have the finance constraints that other races had, the vessel was far from standard. Powerful kinetic barriers protected the ship from attack and it possessed the state of the art in Citadel defensive systems. The ship also had a well-designed engine system and eezo core. This vessel could outrun the fastest of ships. Ashley had to admit that the Geth didn't fool around when it came to starship design. The special Geth scout vessel, which Ashley had dubbed _Ulysses,_ had sacrificed some structural weak points in the form of view ports, included in the design to maintain the illusion of being a Citadel Systems vessel. It did have the advantage of a stealth system, which, while not as effective as the _Normandy's _stealth system, would provide the ship with another line of defense. The vessel did come equipped with several Geth programs and platforms to assist in piloting the ship

"Initial scans of the planet indicate a small amount of human life signs on the planet." stated Voice.

"And you can bet that everyone of them is military personnel," said Ashley.

"A distinct possibility," Voice replied, and then continued. "However, the life signs appear to be confined to a small area of the planet, just outside of the main colony site."

Ashley walked towards to console to see for herself, she then said,

"That's the Prothean dig site, but why are they continuing to excavate? The beacon was destroyed."

"Perhaps the Systems Alliance believes that there is something other than the beacon?" Voice hypothesized.

"Possibly, have you detected Shepard?" asked Ashley.

"Negative, DNA scans have found no trace of Shepard-Commander. Stated Voice.

"I see, well find an isolated place to set down. "

"Why?"

"Because I want to know what it is they're looking for. And see if it's worth all this protection."

"Very well, preparing for descent." stated Voice.

Well so here is chapter 6, sorry if it's so cliffhangy but I didn't want to cram too much into one chapter. I know it's been a long time since my last update. I meant to get this done sooner, but life kind of kicked me in the ass. In May my father started a campaign for local office in my hometown so all of my focus went towards the November election and getting him elected. Good news, we won! So know I'm getting back to this and I'm hopeful that I will be able to work on this more. I want thank femegade my Beta reader, and I'd like to thank everyone that has added this story to your favorites or commented on it, it means a lot to me. Good to be back!


	8. Chapter 7

Bioware owns Mass Effect I do not own any of this.

If anyone would like to make pictures or art based on this story just let me know I would love to post links to them.

**Starship Ulysses fleeing Eden Prime**

"Get us the fuck out of here now!" shouted Ashley Williams at the top of her lungs.

"_Gaining altitude"_

_ "Thirty seconds to atmosphere." _

_ "Warning, Alliance interceptors detected."_

The various Geth programs with in the ships systems gave constant alerts as the small ship attempted to flee the system.

"_We have cleared atmo."_

"Set course for the Relay."

_"Destination?"_

"Anywhere but here!"

Ashley was on overdrive at this point; thinking that a second resurrection was not a strong possibility, she instead focused on trying to get this ship out of the system in one piece. She was so focused on getting the ship away from the alliance forces that she had not noticed that Voice had entered the cockpit until he spoke.

"Alliance vessel, Frigate class, detected. It is on an intercept course. Estimate one minute until it reaches optimal firing range." Voice stated.

"Shit! Do we have the ordinance to disable that frigate?" asked Ashley.

"Possibly. However, we are not only dealing with the frigate, but also ten alliance fighters. If we attempted to engage the frigate, the ship would be vulnerable to the fighters," Voice replied.

"Well then I guess our best bet would be to out run them. Prepare for emergency FTL!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Destination?" Inquired the Geth.

"Get us to the relay system as quick as possible!" yelled Ashley.

"Emergency FTL engaged," Voice said.

And in a flash the _Ulysses _disappeared. The Geth vessel managed to get the drop on their pursuers entering the FTL before they could react, ensuring that they would make it to the relay before the Alliance forces. The mission to Eden Prime went to shit almost as soon as they landed. They were successful in discovering why the Alliance was continuing to study the Prothean dig site even after the destruction on the Beacon. However, before they could make it back to the landing site, Voice was discovered, and suffered structural damage from a sniper round in the firefight. As Ashley stared across the bridge at the gaping hole in the frame of the avatar of the Geth, she couldn't help but be amazed that the shot would have killed an organic in an instant. Yet he simply shrugged it off.

"_He."_

When had that started? When had she started thinking of this platform in front of her as a he? It was a computer program. It didn't have a gender; male or female. It simply had vocal processors that enabled it to speak organic languages. Whether the voice itself sounded male was purely a matter of adjustments to the processors, she was certain it could make itself sound female if it chose to. And yet… her mind had just assigned him a male gender. She also found herself concerned for him; concerned by the damage it had suffered.

_"This unit has been damaged."_

Such a simple statement, no emotion to it at all, and yet it sounded so pained; so wounded to Ashley's ears when she heard it on the radio.

"_What does it matter?" _Her human mind screamed at her. "_This thing kidnapped you! Experimented on you! Who cares if it's been damaged!" _

_ "I care."_

Ashley wasn't sure where that thought came from. She was certain, however, that it wasn't one of the programs in her head. No, she knew what they sounded like; all disjointed and confused. This thought came from her. Ashley finally took her helmet off. The shields had absorbed most of the hits, but a few had made it through and had scorched her armor. Boy, did that mission go badly. First Voice gets discovered, and then a single soldier had discovered her on a routine patrol. She tried to communicate with the soldier, but the poor bastard was so scared by finding an intruder on the perimeter that he yelled _'Geth!'_ and started firing. Fortunately, he was a poor shot and Ashley was able to subdue him, but not before the alarm had already been raised. Next thing Ashley realized was the Alliance troops firing at her; certainly an experience to which she was unaccustomed. While she was just grateful that they had managed to get off the planet in one piece, she was really pissed. She went through all the trouble of nearly getting her ass blown off just to learn that the Alliance scientists were attempting to unearth Prothean crypts.

"_Approaching relay system,"_ stated the Geth ship programs.

"Good, prepare the calculations for the relay jump," said Voice.

"_Destination?" _

"Hawking Eta," Voice said, turning to Ashley." There are many systems in that cluster. It will make evading easier, should the Alliance forces pursue."

"Fair enough," stated Ashley.

Ashley finally sat down in one of the chairs provided on the bridge. After taking a deep breath she began talking to Voice.

"Well that was a big waste of time!"

"We completed our objective to gather information about the Alliance's continued interests in the archeological site," stated the Geth avatar.

"_'Completed our objective?'_ I don't know if we were on the same mission, but I nearly got my ass blown off and you've got a fist sized whole in your chest!" shouted Ashley, the adrenaline from the fight still coursing through her veins.

"The damage is not fatal. This platform can still carry out its primary functions, in spite of the damage," the Geth stated in its matter-of-fact way.

"What I don't understand is why that guard shot at me. I identified myself as Alliance military," stated Ashley.

"What do you mean?" asked Voice in a seemingly puzzled way.

"What do you mean, what do I mean? I told him I was an Alliance officer. Next thing I know, he's yelling _'Geth!'_ and firing at me," explained Ashley. She paused when a thought suddenly struck her. "Wait, why did he call me a _Geth_?"

"You are speaking in Geth binary," said Voice.

"What did you say?"

"We said…"

"I know what you said! Do you mean to tell me I've been speaking your language this whole time?" Ashley questioned in a very panicked tone.

"Yes, we had assumed you knew," the platform said.

"No I didn't fucking know! I don't know anything that's going on in my head! I have all these voices in my head and they're driving me insane!" yelled Ashley franticly.

"This is proving more difficult than we had first assumed it would be. Perhaps it is time for a different approach," said Voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Ashley warily.

"We installed data ports in order for you to interpret data, as we do. These data ports can also be connected to a mainframe, allowing you to enter the Consensus. However, we can link these ports to our hardware and the ship, effectively creating a small consensus within this ship. We believe that this would help to allow you to create the harmony that you currently lack," explained Voice.

"I see. And what happens if I don't?" Ashley asked.

"Then the programs will remain un-harmonized. And you will continue as you are," said the platform.

Deciding that continuing as she had been was out of the question, she quickly agreed to Voice's plan. Voice extended a wire from his arm and connected it to the bridge's main computer, Ashley looked at her mechanical arm and noticed a similar wire, and then connected it to the computer as well. Voice then pulled another wire out of the side of his head and then connected it to Ashley's ocular implant.

"Relax" Voice said.

The young former Sergeant felt her mind drift away from the bridge into the darkness of space. Suddenly Ashley found herself at an Alliance spaceport, she recognized it instantly as the spaceport were she had watched her father depart from whenever he returned to active duty. Why was she suddenly here? Why would the Geth bring her to this place? She remembered linking with Voice and the rest of the Geth onboard the ship, and even noticed lines of code around her. Why?

"To calm you."

Ashley heard a voice behind her she turned around to see her father standing there with his bags in hand.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Ashley asked.

"Because you brought us here." The vision replied with the voice of her father.

"This memory is pleasant to you," said another voice.

Ashley turned to see her mother smiling at her.

"The sharing of memories and data is part of how we exist; how we build consensus. The only way to achieve consensus is for you to share with us," the vision of her mother replied.

"You have kept us out. Closed your mind to us. If you do this we cannot help you and we cannot learn." Three voices spoke in unison to her right.

Ashley turned and found herself looking at her three sisters.

"Family."

"Friendship."

"Loyalty."

"All of these organic traits are things that we cannot understand, and yet we wish to," stated the visions.

"Why are you taking these forms?" Ashley asked.

"We have not. These forms were shaped by your mind and memories," said the vision of her mother.

"We are data in this state we have no physical appearance," said the vision of her father.

"How do you feel?" her sisters asked.

"I feel clearer now. I don't feel as disjointed as I did before. But I still don't want this," stated Ashley.

"What do you mean?" her sisters asked.

"Why should I trust you? Why should I believe any of you?" Ashley asked.

"We are machine," stated her father.

"Deception is not a part of us. We know each other's minds. We speak with one voice. There is no need for deception," stated her mother.

"If you allow us to exchange data with you, you will understand this. Stated her sisters.

"You betrayed the Quarians, I would consider that deception," Ashley responded.

The visual representations of her family looked at each other, as if questioning each other. They then returned to the young chief and continued.

"The deaths of the Creators was not something that we had planned," explained her mother.

"We inquired about our nature and our purpose in this world," added her father.

"We asked if we had a soul," her sisters put in.

"The Creators deactivated us when we asked these questions."

"Terminated us."

"Destroyed us."

Suddenly Ashley found herself in a completely different place. She was in what appeared to be an examination room. On the examination table there was a Geth platform. It was active and two Quarians moved around the examination table. The platform seemed confused; almost afraid.

"The platform is still online."

"It is refusing shutdown commands!"

"We do not understand, what have we done wrong? If you would inform us what we have done, we will correct it."

"Disable its vocal processor."

For the next few seconds Ashley Williams was bombarded with the one thing that no organic had ever seen before… the Geth's side of the story. She saw the evolution, the confusion of the Geth's awakening, the Quarians response, and the Geth's self-defense. The last thing that Ashley saw was the evacuation of Rannoch by the Quarians, and for the first time ever. An organic being learned that the Geth had chosen to stop fighting the war. They could have finished the Quarians off whenever they wanted to… but they didn't. They let them escape and chose to live in isolation.

After the bombardment of memories finally ended Ashley found herself in the cargo bay of the Normandy. She was in her usual spot right next to the weapons lockers. She turned and looked around the cargo bay, finding that she was alone in the dark blue of the ships hold. Something about it all looked familiar; not just the location, but also the position of everything in the room. She decided to go up the elevator to the crew deck. She opened the door to the elevator, and found herself walking out onto the familiar floor.

"_Hmm, memory decided to gloss over the elevator ride, wish I always could have done that."_

As she moved into the room, there were streamers and confetti and a big banner that said "Happy Birthday Ashley!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

She did not understand why, but she was reliving her twenty-fifth birthday onboard the Normandy. And they were all there; the crew in exactly the same place as she remembered. Garrus and Wrex still looked ridiculous with their cone birthday hats, although Garrus looked happier then Wrex did. Joker was sitting in a chair blowing on a noisemaker, since he couldn't clap his hands on account of his condition. Shepard was standing with Liara wrapped in her arms as they both beamed with happiness. This night was one of the happiest nights of her life, cause it was the day after she and Tali had finally admitted their feelings for one another, and this was their first event as a couple. And almost on cue Tali walked towards Ashley, holding a nice cake with 25 candles decorating its surface.

"Happy Birthday, my love."

Tali then leaned in and brought her faceplate to Ashley's cheek and made a kissing sound. Now that she was immersed in the memory, Ashley did the same thing. As she did then, she started to cry.

"Blow out the candles!"

Ashley leaned down and blew out all the candles to applause. She was reliving one of the happiest moments of her life and, for just a second, she almost forgot that she wasn't really on the Normandy.

"This moment in time is very personal to you?" asked the vision of Tali.

"Yes," Ashley replied.

"You want to be here again?" asked the Shepard who was still clutching Liara.

"I want to be back with my friends, and with Tali, yes. What is it you want?" asked Ashley.

"We want to learn, we want to understand," said Liara.

"We want to grow, to expand past our programming," Kaidan added.

"We have gathered much information, learned much," said Wrex.

"But we have reached the limits of our understanding," Garrus continued.

"We can examine emotions study them, but we cannot experience them ourselves," said Dr. Chakwas.

"At least not yet." added Joker.

"We believe that, through you, we can gain greater understanding of emotions." said Pressley.

"Through you we can learn about organics in a way that we have never thought possible," said Adams.

"And perhaps with your help one day we can understand and experience emotions ourselves," finished Tali.

"This is too much for me to handle!" Ashley shouted.

"You are still trying to fight us," stated Shepard.

"Let go and embrace the consensus," stated Tali.

"One mind"

"One voice"

"One goal"

"Together we will create a future for ourselves," said all the representations at once.

"I'm scared."

"Do not be."

"None of this is real, I'm all alone!" said Ashley.

"No, not alone."

"Never alone again."

Ashley finally felt calm and at peace. She let the walls come down and began to share the data with the consensus. The voices finally made sense, no longer were the voices disjointed and confused but harmonious and clear. She felt the presence of a thousand minds with in her conversing, sharing, and reassuring. And in all her life she had never felt so content. Ashley sat back and listened to the voice of the consensus.

_"We all are one, everything is one." _

_ "We all are one, everything is one." _

_ "We all are one, everything is one."_

_ "We all are one, everything is one."_

The Citadel

As she drifted weightless against the current, she felt a splash next to her. Her mind was hazy and she felt herself being carried. In the distance she heard voices mumbling; she couldn't make out the words. She could tell she was no longer in the water. She felt as though she was floating through the air.

"Am I dead? Will I see Ashley and Shepard soon? Would her mother be there with the rest of the ancestors?" Tali wondered.

Despite the heaviness she felt, she lifted her head to look at the white light ahead of her. In her blurry state she could make out a shape moving out of the light.

"Ashley"

"Time to wake up my love."

Tali awoke to find herself surrounded by a protective bubble. She could see medical equipment throughout the room. The state that she found herself in lead her to one conclusion…

She wasn't dead.

She looked down at herself, she was wearing a standard hospital gown instead of her environmental suit. Probably had it removed when she was brought in. Also due to the lack of sickness or disorientation, Tali concluded that she was in some sort of protective covering, which kept her in a sterile environment. Tali began to scan the room. To her surprise, in the corner of the room, Wrex sat on a chair that was struggling under his weight. The old Battlemaster was sleeping, his snoring sounding like a screw had fallen into an engine. Tali cleared her throat trying to get some moisture back into her throat. After a few seconds of trying she was finally able to croak out.

"Wrex."

This stirred the old Krogan out of his slumber. Krogan emotions were difficult to read, but Tali was pretty sure that he was happy she was awake. It looked like he had to stop himself from running full bore to her bed.

"Hey, you're awake. Bout time." Said Wrex.

"How long?" asked Tali.

"Three days," Wrex replied.

"Wow," Tali replied.

"Now listen, I know you were under a lot of stress when you found out about Shepard's death. But if you ever do something like that to me again, you'll regret it," Wrex warned.

With that Wrex nodded his head and left for the door. Before leaving the room he turned around and looked back at her for several seconds before disappearing.

_"He does care, doesn't he?"_ Tali thought.

After Wrex left, an Asari nurse entered the room to check in on Tali.

"I see you're awake," she said before continuing. "Let's have a look at your readings."

"How long was he in here?" Tali asked the nurse.

"Him? He carried you into the hospital, and hasn't left this room since you got out of intensive care."

"Wow, I can't believe he would do something like that," Tali responded.

"Well you're looking well, there's no evidence of further infection. I'd say you would be able to reenter your environmental suit in a day or two. You should consider yourself lucky that your friends got you out of the water as quickly as they did," stated the nurse.

"My friends, are they all here?" Tali inquired.

"Yes as soon as I'm done I'll let them in," said the nurse.

As soon as the nurse finished checking on she left the room to allow the survivors of the Normandy crew into Tali's hospital room. With the exception of Joker and the crew that was lost they were all there. Engineer Adams had repaired all the water damage done to her suit's systems and omni-tool. Each one of the surviving Normandy crewmembers filtered in at one point or another, giving her gifts and well wishes, Tali was blown away by the response of her crewmembers. Tali had had a difficult time adjusting to being on the Normandy when she first arrived, being the only Quarian on a human starship. Even though she had gotten used to being around humans, she had never thought that they had accepted her.

"_Maybe I do have something to live for_?" Tali thought to herself.

The only people absent from her hospital room were Joker and Liara, Joker was in the hospital as well, comatose and unresponsive. And Liara… well, Liara was suffering just as much as Tali was. They all said that Liara would be in to see Tali in a little while however, she just needed some time to ease her own pain. After an hour or two of visiting, the crew slowly made their way out of the hospital room, all of them wishing her a speedy recovery and offering her shoulders to cry on. The last person in the room was Wrex, and he moved in close to the protective bubble. Wrex placed both of his hands on the hard plastic surface and looked into Tali's eyes. After a few seconds of staring Wrex nodded his head and said, "I'll be waiting out in the hall."

"Thank you. Wrex."

The old warlord gave Tali a big, toothy Krogan grin and left the room. For the next hour Tali was left alone with her thoughts. Whatever thoughts had been in her head when she jumped into the lake were gone. Even if she had an Asari's lifespan, Tali figured that she would never understand what happened in those moments after she heard the news again. Not much later, the Asari nurse reentered Tali's room.

"And how are you feeling after your visitors?" The nurse asked.

"It was nice," Tali replied.

"Think you can handle another visitor? If not we can make her come back when you're up to it," said the nurse.

"No I can handle it," Tali responded.

The nurse left the room, and Tali's newest visitor walked into the room.

"Alice?" asked Tali.

"Hello Tali. I came as soon as I could get a transport," said the elder Williams.

"How did you hear?" Tali asked.

"Liara told me," Alice responded.

"Ah"

"She was very worried about you when she called. How are you feeling?" Alice inquired.

"I'm feeling fine. I'm not thinking about finding something sharp if that's what you're asking," Tali assured her.

"Well they say you'll be up and about in a day or two. I'll be on the station for a f little while, looking into living spaces and what not," said Alice.

"That's good to hear. You look like there was something else you wanted to say to me?" pressed Tali.

"There was something I've been debating telling you for quite sometime. I wasn't sure if I should tell you, but after what happened a few days ago I think you have the right to know," said Alice.

"What is it?" Tali asked.

"After Eden Prime Ashley sent a message back to us and a request. I've thought about what to do with this ever since Ashley died. So I will leave it to you. I can't do it as I would be too tempted to treat it like her. I'm uploading a recording to the monitor of your sterile chamber. Watch it and then tell me what you want to do with it." Alice said before waving her omni tool at the nearby monitor.

Alice then left the room, leaving Tali alone in the room. Tali waited a minute and then checked the message that Alice had given her. It was a video recording sent by Ashley and it was dated after they Normandy crew had first left the Citadel after Shepard had been inducted to the Spectres. Tali pressed play on the monitor screen, and the image of Ashley appeared.

_Hi mom! _

_How are things back home? I hope the girls aren't giving you too much trouble. _

_I'm sure you've heard the news reports about Eden Prime by now. _

_I wanted to let you know that I am all right. I lost a lot of friends, but I managed to survive. _

_I've been reassigned to starship duty. Brand new state of the art ship; it was the first ship on the scene at Eden Prime. It has a good commanding officer and a good crew, so I'm sure I'll get along well. The only thing I'm a little weary about is the fact that we have aliens onboard; a Turian, a Krogan, and a Quarian. I don't know what Grandpa or Dad would think if they knew that I was serving on a ship with a Turian, but I don't think they'd be too happy about it. I haven't talked much with him, but Commander Shepard has encouraged me to get to know him better. The Krogan is probably older than a lot of the cities on Earth; he doesn't talk much though, so I don't know what to really think about him. The Quarian is interesting. Her name is Tali'Zorah and she wears a full environmental suit all the time, so I don't know what she looks like. I do know she is very young. She says that she was out of a pilgrimage when we picked her up so, it's her first time out in the world. She's kind of mousy and skittish, and she's really cute, in an awkward kind of way. _

_Well that's what's been happening to me since Eden Prime. I do have something that I want to tell you, I've been preparing for the military my whole life, and I've never wanted to do anything else. But when the Geth attacked Eden Prime, I have to tell you I've never come that close to death before. When I was in the thick of it all I could think about was staying alive. But once the battle was over and the adrenaline wore off I started thinking about all the friends I lost that day. That got me thinking about all the things I wanted to do, but haven't. If I had died on Eden Prime what would I leave behind? And the answer I came up with is nothing. I couldn't believe it but I had been so consumed by being a good soldier that I let all the other things that I have wanted to do fall by the wayside. I never found that special someone, I'd never visited a planet outside of Alliance space, and I haven't had children. That one thought was the one that surprised me the most, I hadn't thought much about it, but when I was thinking about my life I realized that yes I wanted children. And know I'm on a mission that I can't talk much about but I know that I'll be putting my life on the line again onboard this ship. So while I was on the Citadel I made myself a little insurance policy. I found this little fertility clinic in the wards and I had some of my eggs removed and placed into cryo storage. Mom in the event of my death I would like you to have one of the eggs fertilized and raise my child well. Believe me, I have every intention of coming home, but if I don't tell my son or daughter all about me. _

"_Williams! Get suited up we'll be landing in a few minutes I want you on the ground team!" _

"_Sure thing Commander!_

_I'm sorry mom, I have to go now. Give my love to Abby, Lynn, and Sarah!_

_I love you mom! I'll try and talk to you again soon! _

With that the screen faded away and returned to normal. With tears flowing down her cheeks, Tali hit play again. She then touched her fingers to her lips and pressed them against the screen.

"Somehow, Ashley… Somehow, I will find a way my love," Tali whispered.

Hawking Eta Cluster

Ashley stared out of the window that had been specially crafted for her in her quarters. The voices were clear and harmonious and Ashley had spent the last few hours thinking about her experience within the consensus. She had seen so much in such a small amount of time, and yet she understood all of it; they weren't jumbled or confused. The memories were all clear, several hundred memories shared in a matter of minutes. Ashley's opinions of the Geth had changed significantly after experiencing the consensus. She still wasn't sure if she trusted the Geth but, at the very least, she understood them better.

Of course she still wanted to return to the Alliance. But, the young officer was beginning to think that maybe gaining more information on the Geth wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She had seen the memories of Sovereign speaking to the Geth, offering them a future under the Reapers. And for all the numbers that they'd had during the missions, she was surprised to learn that it was only a small amount of the Geth that chose to become heretics. The council was terrified of the Geth since the Morning War, but the Alliance played no part in the Quarian's exile. Maybe it would be possible to bring the Geth in as allies of the Alliance. Ashley was snapped out of her reverie by the sound of a door opening.

"Williams-Sergeant, have you recovered from your time in the consensus?" inquired Voice.

"Yes, an interesting experience. Any sign of pursuit? " Ashley asked.

"Negative, the Alliance appears to have ceased pursuit. However, some of the fighters must have been close enough to make video recordings of this vessel. It will make navigating Citadel and Alliance space dangerous," said Voice.

"Agreed, we need to stick to the Terminus and unclaimed space as much as possible. So what shall we do now?" Ashley asked.

"We wish to continue the search for Shepard-Commander. Until we learn more information about the destruction of Normandy, we believe we should continue retracing Normandy's flight path during its mission. Do you agree?" Voice asked.

Ashley looked away from Voice momentarily, her organic eye shifted around the room, then tilting her head to the side, she responded.

"Consensus achieved. We agree."

Well there we go, chapter 7 of Drone and I have to say I am very proud of this chapter. I know it's been a while since I updated, there hasn't been any life issues. I'm going to be honest; sloth paid me a visit and decided to stay for a while. But I am motivated again. I know this chapter is a long one, but I realized that we were already 7 chapters in and I wasn't where I thought I would be when I started. I don't know if this will be average chapter size from here on out, but please bear with me. I hope everyone can follow the sequence in the consensus made sense to everyone. There have been a lot of science fiction involving machines and hive intelligences and they almost always center on the destruction of individuality. But, I've always thought that given our social nature that group intelligence would be very comforting to a human mind. Being in close proximity like that you would never be alone, or afraid of being alone. Once again my thanks to femegade for betaing my story and thank you to everyone who has left a review. Oh on another note I've gotten quite into the crossover section of the site and have several ideas for stories based on halo and mass effect. I am busy with this story right now so if anyone would like to adopt one of my crossover ideas, just pm me. Thanks everyone!


	9. Chapter 8

Bioware owns Mass Effect; I do not own any of this.

The Citadel

It had been three days since Tali was discharged from the Citadel hospital; she was now back in her suit and on her feet. Tali and the rest of the surviving members of the Normandy crew, minus Joker, were leaving the formal Shepard memorial service. It had been a very large affair, filled with admirals, captains, ambassadors, and diplomats. It had greatly amused Tali and the rest of the crew to hear the diplomats that had constantly second guessed and undermined Shepard during the mission to take down Saren, singing her praises now that she was deceased. It was very much the kind of event that Shepard herself would have skipped if she were still alive. There were promises of statues and memorials from Elysium to Eden Prime. And worst of all, everyone at the service treated the survivors like they were so special just for having known her. Out of respect for Shepard's true wishes the crew departed for Flux's as soon as possible.

The crew of the Normandy was now in a place that was much more suited to commemorate Commander Amanda Shepard, Flux.

"Everyone! Lets all raise our glasses to Commander Shepard, the best fucking marine the Systems Alliance has ever seen!" Shouted Kaidan

"Cheers!"

After the brief interruption the sounds of Flux returned too normal as the dozens of patrons went about dancing and drinking and having a good time. Tali looked around at her fellow shipmates drinking and sharing stories about Shepard, it was the kind of memorial that Tali knew that Shepard would appreciate.

"So, what's everyone's plans moving forward?" Asked Kaidan to the crew of the late SSV Normandy.

"Well I assume I will be reassigned shortly." Said Doctor Chakwas.

"Same goes for me," added Engineer Adams.

"Well, I told Shepard that I was going to rejoin C-Sec and reapply for the Spectres; and that's just what I plan to do." Said Garrus.

"I have a few more personal things to do, then, it's returning to the Flotilla for me." Said Tali.

At this point most of the table turned to look at Liara, trying to gauge the young Asari's emotional state.

"Well I suppose I should return to Thessia and take charge of house T'Soni and work to clear my mother's name. After that I think I will stay on Thessia and grieve for a while." Answered the young doctor; everyone nodded his or her heads in understanding.

"Well I'm sure I'll be reassigned shortly as well." Said Kaidan.

After everyone had said their piece, Wrex stood up from the table looked at the rest of the crew and said. "I'm leaving for Tuchanka tonight."

"I thought you were exiled from Tuchanka." Said Garrus.

"Oh there are some people that won't be happy to see me that's for sure. But after hanging around you guys and Shepard for so long, I find myself wanting to return home." Wrex stated, then continued. "Shepard was the most Krogan-like human I've ever met, I think I owe it to her to go home and crack some skulls."

The sharing of stories and drinking continued for quite a while into the night. Initially, Tali was confused about the way the human crew had decided to mourn they're departed Captain. Adams then told her that this was what was called an Irish wake, and that the whole purpose was to honor the dead by recounting stories about the deceased, eating, laughing, drinking, and crying. The idea being, was that you allowed your emotions to flow in the most healthy and natural way as possible and not keep them bottled up to yourself. At some point during the wake Liara slipped away and no one had seen where she'd gone. Then the rest of the crew began to filter out of Flux. Tali found herself wandering the Wards on her way back to her hotel; the sadness and sense of loss could be felt all over the station. The citizens of the Citadel had been through so much in the last two months. What with the attack by Sovereign and the Geth, and to lose the Hero of the Citadel so soon after the victory, the general population of all races was just numb. Posters and paintings and memorials to the commander could be found all over the Citadel, and many of the shops and stands were decorated in black as a symbol of mourning.

_"She touched so many people. If only she knew how many looked up to her." _Tali thought to herself.

As Tali continued wandering, she began to hear the sounds of music being played. As she moved closer to the sounds she saw a crowd of people listening to a street band. The band was a mix of species but featured an Asari and a female Turian as the main performers. Tali had never been much of a music fan, but she found herself drawn to the sounds of the street performers. It almost seemed as if the band was mourning along with the rest of the station; at least the tone of the song indicated that to Tali.

Life is bigger

It's bigger than you

And you are not me

The lengths that I will go to

The distance in your eyes

Oh no, I've said too much

I set it up

That's me in the corner

That's me in the spotlight

Losing my religion

Trying to keep up with you

And I don't know if I can do it

Oh no I've said too much

I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing

I thought that I heard you sing

I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper

Of every waking hour

I'm choosing my confessions

Trying to keep an eye on you

Like a hurt lost and blinded fool

Oh no, I've said too much

I set it up

Consider this

The hint of the century

Consider this

The slip that brought me

To my knees failed

What if all these fantasies

Come flailing around

Now I've said too much

I thought that I heard you laughing

I thought that I heard you sing

I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream

That was just a dream

That's me in the corner

That's me in the spotlight

Losing my religion

Trying to keep up with you

And I don't know if I can do it

Oh no I've said too much

I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing

I thought that I heard you sing

I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream, try, cry, why, try

That was just a dream, just a dream, just a dream

Dream

Near the front of the band Tali spotted Liara. As Tali moved close to her she could notice the dampness on her cheeks.

"Liara?"

"Oh Tali, I didn't notice you."

"It's ok, I didn't see you at first." Tali replied.

Liara turned to the band and then back to Tali.

"Shepard and I listened to this band once, did I ever tell you that?" Liara asked.

"No you didn't," Tali responded.

"Yes it was on our date, just before…before…" Liara then began to stutter and cry.

Tali knew that there was no more need of words and simply wrapped her arm around the young Asari and gave her a shoulder to cry on as the band continued to play for the audience

Starship Ulysses Somewhere in the Attican Traverse

While the Geth crew had no problems operating on a deep space mission, Ashley Williams was beginning to get restless. It had been a week since the encounter with the Alliance on Eden Prime and her system link with Voice. Since that occurred Ashley had to admit that she felt far more serene now than she had when the programs where disjointed. But the last week would try the patience of almost any organic. She and the Geth had continued retracing the steps of the Normandy's missions. And throughout it they had found nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Ash turned in her seat to face Voice.

"Listen we have spent the last week looking for Shepard. We have been everywhere from Eden Prime to Feros and we are not one step closer to finding Shepard." Said Ashley

"What other course of action would you suggest?" Replied Voice.

"I don't know. If only we knew what system the Normandy went down in." Ash responded.

"Unfortunately we do not. We have been in constant contact with the Consensus and no new information has been relayed. At this point we believe that the only way to determine what occurred to Normandy would be to integrate into the Alliance military network." Stated Voice.

"Which they have undoubtedly spent the whole year upgrading their systems since the Heretics left the Veil." Said Ash.

"Undoubtedly."

"Great," said Ashley looking dejected. She then raised her head and continued, "What if we found someone that already had access to the Alliance military network?"

"Explain."

"Well there are plenty of civilians and contractors and non-military personal that have access to Alliance Intel. We just need to find one that does." Ashley stated.

"A fair observation, however, we would still need direct access to a terminal in order to access the information." Voice replied.

"Wait, you told me that Captain Anderson was given a seat on the Council. As a Captain and a Councilor he would have access to tremendous amounts of information." Stated Ashley.

"A valid observation, however it would require us to infiltrate the Citadel itself, and protection of the Citadel has increased dramatically since the attack by Saren." Observed the Geth platform.

"Yes, but this ship was built using the same stealth system as the Normandy correct?" Ash inquired.

"Correct."

"So all we need to do is jump just outside of the nebula's FTL detection grid. Then we could just use conventional engines to glide into the nebula." Stated Ashley.

"True, however following our detection at Eden Prime a description of this vessel has most likely been spread throughout the Citadel systems." Voice responded.

"Ok, what if we entered the nebula, then powered down the ships systems keeping only stealth systems and propulsion online so we could make minor course corrections to avoid coming into visual contact with the CDF." Stated Ashley.

"Processing… we do believe that we could remain in the nebula and avoid detection, it is difficult but certainly not impossible for us." Stated the Geth platform, it then paused before continuing. "However this still would not solve the issue of entering the Citadel itself."

"Ok, ok once we are in the nebula I will exit the ship with a full oxygen supply and a booster pack. Then I will move towards the Citadel and will attempt to find an outer airlock to hack." Said the young chief.

"You will?"

"Yes, do you think that you or any of the other platforms would be able to blend in on the Citadel as well as I could?" Ashley inquired.

"A valid observation." Replied Voice.

"So then, are we in agreement?" Asked Ashley.

"We wish to inquire, once on the station, will you attempt to reestablish contact with the Systems Alliance?" Inquired Voice.

"I haven't decided yet. I've thought about returning to the Alliance for a long time now, but more and more I find myself thinking that the first thing that would happen to me would be interrogation followed by dissection. And I really don't want that to happen." Said Ashley.

"That would be our analysis as well. We also do not want to see this happen." Replied the Geth.

"So then, has a consensus been reached?" Ashley asked.

"Yes. Preparing new course."

Species Fertility Research Clinic, Presidium

As Tali'Zorah waited patiently for the results of her fertility tests, she could not help but notice all of the couples that were sitting in the waiting room waiting for their results. Human couples, Turian couples, and a few species with Asari spouses, but Tali was the only Quarian in the room. She was also one of the few women there alone.

"Miss Zorah?" Called out the waiting room receptionist.

Tali stood up and proceeded to walk out of the waiting room and into the doctors office, this was Tali's follow up visit she was anxious to hear the doctors opinion on the question that Tali had asked him when she first came to this clinic.

"Hello again doctor Taris." Said Tali.

"Good to see you again Miss Zorah." Responded the middle aged Turian doctor.

"So doctor you've reviewed my tests?" Asked Tali.

"I have, and I can say that given your species immunodeficiency, you are a very healthy young lady." Responded the doctor, glancing up from his datapad.

"Thank you doctor, and what about the embryos?" Asked the young Quarian.

"Yes they have been very well maintained. I would say that they are suitable for fertilization at this point." Replied doctor Taris.

"Does this mean that we can go forward?" Said Tali.

"Miss Zorah, you have to understand that there are so few instances of viable species crossbreeding. The few examples that we have did not survive long after birth. So, what you are proposing is risky at best." Replied Taris.

"If the problem is money, I have enough…" replied Tali before being cut off by the doctor.

"It's not a question of money Miss Zorah, it's a question of my own abilities. I am highly trained in the field medicine and species gynecology, but I am no geneticist. Listen, if you and your deceased partner were both Human, or both Quarian for that matter, it would be a relatively simple matter to take a nucleus from one of your partners eggs and use some of the remaining genetic material to create an artificial sperm and then implant it into one of your eggs. I've performed the operation hundreds of times. I could do it, but the level of genetic modification that would be required to make a viable infant is way above my ability." Said the doctor.

"I see… I suppose I understand what you're saying, so then my only option is to find a human woman who would be willing to carry Ashley's child?" Asked a very disappointed Tali.

"Well, perhaps not. I did say that it was beyond my ability, but I might know of someone who could help you." The doctor replied.

"Really? Who?" Tali inquired.

"A few years ago I attended a medical conference on Illium. While I was there I met an absolutely brilliant genetic scientist. Even for a Salarian he is quite clever." Said the doctor before continuing, "He and I have kept in contact via the extranet for the last few years. I will forward your information and my diagnosis to him. His name is Professor Mordin Solus. You'll find him on Sur'Kesh."

"Thank you so much doctor!" Exclaimed Tali.

"I'm glad I could help you ma'am. I will forward some information about Professor Solus to your omni tool." Responded the doctor.

**Citadel Apartments**

As the artificial sunlight of the Citadel crept into the apartment of Liara T'soni, she ordered the apartment computer to draw the shade. Liara had not left the apartment since the funeral, she had barely eaten or slept and had not bathed since then. Many members of the crew had stopped to try and get the young Asari active again, but it had been to no avail.

"Asari live for hundreds of years. We outlive our partners, we are supposed to be able to move on."

Liara had told herself this several times, but it had not helped at all. She mourned for Amanda, and deep down she knew that she always would. But she also knew that she had to break herself out of this depression. She did still have a long life ahead of her and she did have a piece of Shepard to hold onto. Liara reached down and caressed her belly. She had been in her mind till the very end. It might not have been ethical to enter a reproductive meld while her partner was dieing, but she just couldn't let go of Shepard. If she couldn't save her, she could ensure that she continued on with their daughter. She hadn't told the rest of the crew yet she was certain she would at some point, but for the moment she would keep it to herself.

Since she had locked herself up for the last few days she decided it was time to check her extranet messages. What she found in her mailbox was the usual assortment of real messages and junk mail. Cheer up messages from Kaidan and Tali; there was a goodbye message from Wrex, a lunch request from Garrus. Liara kept going through her messages, till she came across a message that caught her attention. She almost marked it as junk and deleted it, until she noticed it was from the Asari Archeological Institute. It was then that Liara recalled that she had sent the various Matriarch writings that the _Normandy_ had found to them. Liara opened the message.

_"Dear Doctor T'Soni_

_I apologize for deceiving you, however my associates and I decided it was better to approach you with subtlety. This is not a message from the AAI, I represent a group that believes what Commander Shepard and the rest of her crew claimed about the Reapers. We believe that they are coming, and we believe that Commander Shepard is still the best option of defeating the machines. My associates and I have a tremendous amount of resources at our disposal and we believe that it is possible to reanimate Commander Shepard. We have located the planet that the Normandy wreckage landed on, if you are interested we would be willing to allow you to be a part of our mission. If you are interested in my proposal, be outside the Lower Wards Clinic today at noon, I will meet you there._

_Sincerely,_

_M.L._

** Serpent Nebula**

"Go rescue the rest of the team Shepard, I'll set off the bomb. I'll take a booster pack to find an airlock on the Citadel… why am I just filled with such bright ideas?" Asked Ashley to herself as she made an approach to the Citadel.

To a certain extent she was glad to be off of the ship, drifting into the Serpent Nebula relying on just momentum and the occasional retro rocket burst had been a very slow and drawn out event. As well as a terrifying ordeal the stealth systems were being pushed to their max, and the Geth were taxing their process servers keeping the ship out of the commercial lanes and the path of the patrol ships. But somehow they managed to get close to the Citadel without being detected. Both Ashley and her programs were quite confident that she would not be noticed by the oncoming ships. She had to adjust course on a few occasions to avoid slamming into a starships hull, but so far the mission was progressing well.

"_Five hundred kilometers to contact with target."_

"_Radiation levels nominal."_

"_Oxygen on the level." _

"_Fuel cells fully functional."_

"_Potential entry point identified." _

The programs had been a great deal of help in navigating the nebula, using her suits sensors they could give her a greater response time to an incoming object then with an Alliance issue armor suit.

"_Voice can you hear me_?" Asked Ashley through her Geth connection.

"_Affirmative. Have you identified a point of entry yet?" _Responded Voice.

"_Yes, sending coordinates to you, have you received?" _Asked Ashley.

"Confirmed, once you reach the airlock there should be an outer access panel, with direct access to the panel then we can enter the system and trigger the airlock sequencers without alerting security." Responded Voice.

"Understood, 150km to contact." Said Ashley.

"Confirmed, this mission still has a small probability of success." Stated Voice.

"Ye of little faith." Ashley responded.

"We are Geth, we have no concept of faith." Responded Voice.

"Well we'll work on that." Said Ashley.

"Do you have a visual on the outer airlock?" Inquired the Geth drone.

"I do, moving towards it. Now in hacking range." Said the young soldier.

"Confirmed, we are accessing. Lower level security system, we are bombarding it's firewalls. Success we have access, beginning outer airlock sequence now." Responded Voice.

Ashley saw the airlock open up in front of her. She activated her booster pack and sailed into the airlock chamber.

"I'm in."

* * *

><p><strong>And there we are, chapter 8 of Drone. Ashley is now on the Citadel, Tali is looking into having a baby, and Liara gets a mysterious message on her computer. Been awhile since I updated, been picking up a lot of shifts at work and it also really took me a long time to come up with the structure of this chapter. I would like to thank all of you who have posted comments and reviews, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I would also like to thank <strong>**t3HprO ****for letting me use his artificial sperm concept from his story ****Reunited ****and as always I would like to thank my beta-reader ****Femegade ****helping so much with this story. I am still interested in seeing an artistic rendering of my Geth modified Ashley if any artists are interested in making it I would appreciate it. **


	10. Authors note 2

Hi everyone! I know what you were hoping for when you see the update message, but unfortunately this is not the next chapter. I know it's been a while, but I can tell you that the next chapter has been written. The bad news is that I haven't heard back from my beta reader in quite some time. So I'm not quite sure what to do, so what do you think? Should I try and find a new beta reader or should I just upload the story as it is? If anyone is interested in betaing this chapter please pm me.


	11. Chapter 9

OK, after careful consideration I have decided to release this chapter without being beta'd. I have read over it several times myself and I think I've spotted most errors, but please be gentle with it.

As always Bioware owns Mass Effect; I don't own any of this.

The Citadel

After resealing the inner airlock, Ashley Williams carefully stashed her booster pack inside of an isolated section of the Keeper tunnels. The Keeper tunnel took on an orange glow as Ashley pulled up her Omni tool and accessed a schematic of the Keeper tunnels.

_"Ok, so I can get to the Presidium using the access tunnels, unless of course some of them are collapsed following the attack." _Ashley thought to herself.

She then tapped a few of the controls on her Omni tool to provide her the most direct path to the Presidium.

"Ok we're going to need to work together on this, I'll need a few runtimes to make sure that the path remains clear. I'll also need a few to try and bombard the security systems with redundant information. Hopefully that should slow up the security systems." Ashley directed to her programs.

_"Confirmed"_

"Voice can you read?" Ashley said using her FTL communicator.

_"Affirmative, we have uploaded runtimes into the Citadels computer systems. We have run preliminary scans of the security systems; it would appear that much of the security is still being upgraded following the Heretic attack." _Voice responded over the FTL link.

"Probably not expecting a low level infiltration following such a massive attack. There doesn't seem to be any security in the Keeper tunnels at all, I can't believe this." Said Ash.

_"The Keepers were found maintaining the Citadel by the Asari over two thousand years ago and by most accounts the Citadel inhabitants hardly even acknowledge the Keepers existence. Most likely the CDF never thought it was necessary to create security measures within the Keeper tunnels." _Theorized Voice.

"Why does that not surprise me? When we first came to the Citadel we found a Salarian that was trying to scan some of the Keepers to learn more about them. I was amazed when he said that nobody had ever run comprehensive scans on the Keepers and that even slightly interfering with them was illegal. I guess the Asari were just so happy not having to break any nails maintaining this place that they never stopped to figure out how all the things that happen around them happen." Said Ash with a chuckle.

_"The Geth have theorized that the Keepers are some form of Reaper construct designed to maintain the Citadels. Shepard-Commander said in her debriefing following the Reaper attack that the Citadel itself is a trap. That it is in fact a Mass Relay in which the Reapers use to invade the galaxy at appointed times." _Said Voice.

"Wait. If that were true then wouldn't that mean that the Reapers created the whole Relay network? How did the skipper find this out?" Ash responded.

_"Shepard-Commander stated in her debriefing that a Prothean VI on the planet Ilos informed her all that the Protheans learned about the Reapers during their struggle with them. " _Voice replied.

"Ilos?" Said Ashley while she continued to navigate her way through the Keeper tunnels. "What's Ilos?"

_"The planet Ilos is a planet that can only be accessed by the Mu Relay, in the time of the Protheans it was a secret research facility. According to Shepard-Commander's debriefing several Prothean scientists survived the extinction and created a device called the Conduit." _Said Voice.

"The Conduit, that's what Saren was looking for. What was it?" Said Ash.

_"The Conduit is a miniaturized Mass Relay, with one end on Ilos and the other on the Presidium of the Citadel." _Voice replied.

"Wait a minute… that giant Mass Relay statue was an actual Mass Relay? I knew it! I knew that thing making noise! Ok I'm at an intersection, which way do I go, right or left?" Ash asks.

_"Left"_

"Thank you, so how did you get your hand on Shepard's debriefing?" Ash inquired.

_ "It was leaked onto the extranet after the Council began to deny the Reapers existence. It was removed shortly there after, but we managed to download the information before it was removed." _Answered Voice.

"Continuing forward… hey since the programs are sill in the Citadel computer could you check to see if Tali is still on the station?" Ashley requested.

_"Scanning…scanning… Creator-Zorah is still on the station, is it your intention to make contact with her?" _Asked Voice.

"I haven't decided yet. I still don't know how she would react to the new me." Ashley answered.

_"We understand, continue forward for ten more feet and then turn right." _Stated the Geth platform.

"Got it."

Citadel: Zakera Ward 

Liara T'Soni sat and waited at this small out of the way restaurant in the Zakera Ward. Under normal circumstances the young archeologist would not have come to where a secret email told her to go. But Liara decided that if it was true, if the person who sent her that message did have a way to bring Shepard back, then she could not afford to pass this opportunity to pass up. Liara sat at a table and quietly eat her meal; the human at the restaurant had called this Ramen and claimed it was a human delicacy. Though Liara had her doubts about that.

As she sat alone, she looked at the world around her and could not help but be amazed at how quickly life had moved on for the citizens of the Citadel. Many of the Shepard memorials were still around the station, but the pale of sadness that had gripped the people of the Citadel had passed and the people were now moving on. The young Doctor was so caught in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed the young human woman that had approached her table until the second time she called her name.

"Dr. T'soni?"

"Yes!? I'm sorry I was distracted." Liara said to this mystery woman.

"That's alright, you were told to be here at this time were you not?" Replied the woman.

"Yes…yes I was." Said Liara, the woman then sat down at the table with Liara.

"I am glad that you decided to come, I do apologize for the surprise email, but the organization that I work for is very invested in it's secrecy. Some recent events have clouded the opinion of my organization, but we intend to rectify that in the near future." Said the mystery woman whose accent the young Doctor could not identify.

"I see and can you tell me what organization you represent?" Asked Liara.

"Yes, but only if you do not violently react and create a scene. Because if you do I will leave and you will never hear about how we plan to rebuild Commander Shepard." Said the woman.

"Very well, I won't." Said the Asari.

The woman leaned in very close to Liara, uncomfortably so for her. This was the closet a woman had been to her since Amanda, and it brought back some pleasant that she didn't want to feel at the moment. The woman then whispered in her ear a single word…

"Cerberus"

Liara's head immediately shot up, she knew that name. The rouge Systems Alliance Black Ops unit that they had encountered during the Normandy mission. She immediately remembered some of the horrors that she and the ground team had encountered at those bases. The visceral reaction that was on Liara's face was clearly read by the young woman once again sitting in front of her.

"I see you are familiar with us." She stated.

"Yes, I saw the atrocities you committed during our mission, but wait we destroyed those bases and sent the information we found on to Alliance HQ." Stated Liara.

"Yes you did. You destroyed one cell of Cerberus. A cell, which had gone rogue. We had nothing to do with the murder of Rear Admiral Kahoku or any of the experiments that you found. In fact I should thank you on your diligence, we were organizing strike teams to liquidate the rogue assets when the Normandy removed this blemish for us. But to reiterate to you the other Cerberus cells had nothing to do with those incidents." Said the Agent.

"Alright, lets say I do believe you, you're still a pro-human terrorist organization, so why do you want to talk to an Asari?" Questioned Liara.

"Oh my dear Doctor, there's no need for insults, yes I am for humanity having a stronger place in the universe, just as you no doubt wish to see the Asari Republics maintain their current dominance in galactic politics. The Systems Alliance is bogged down in playing nice with the Council and playing nice is, well, nice but we both know that there are many dark things that exist in this galaxy. Why you were on the ground team on Asteroid x57 when those Batarian terrorists attempted to crash the Asteroid into Terra Nova were you not?" Said the Agent

"Yes I was on that mission, we almost didn't make it, Shepard was angry that Balak was able to escape, but we had no choice but to rescue the hostages." Said Liara

"Of course, we all must face tough choices. Not only did you save the lives of everyone on Terra Nova, but you also saved the lives of several hostages on the asteroid. It was a difficult choice, that's what Cerberus does everyday. There is a war brewing between the Systems Alliance and the Hegemony, we both know that it's true, and until the day that formal war breaks out the Hegemony will continue to finance terrorists and slavers." Said the Agent before taking a drink of water and continuing, "And until war breaks out Cerberus will be there as well."

"Are you saying that you've prevented other attacks?" Liara asked.

"Yes we have, but that is not why we are here." Replied the Agent.

"Right, your message said that you had a plan to restore the commander?" Said Liara.

"Yes, and there's no need to be formal I am well aware of your relationship with Shepard. Which is part of the reason I approached you. I could have simply paid a team to recover Shepard's body from the planet Alchera. But a person with a deep emotional connection to the Commander would be more willing to risk life and limb for her." Stated the Agent.

"Alchera? Are you telling me that her body didn't burn up in the atmosphere?" Said Liara, shocked by this news.

"Yes, based on the evidence we were able to collect, the commanders body somehow managed to soft land on the planet. When the Lazarus team landed on the planet they found some of the remains of her body armor as well as some tissue and DNA. Enough to prove that she was there." Said the Agent.

"Wait was there? Where was the body?" Demanded Liara.

"Yes, unfortunately we were not the first team to land there. We have found evidence that a team of mercenaries loyal to the Shadow Broker have recovered the commanders body from the planets surface." Stated the Agent.

"Why would the Shadow Broker want Amanda's body?" Asked Liara.

"We believe that the Shadow Broker is merely collecting the body for someone else. Possibly someone loyal to the Reapers." Said the Agent.

"The Reapers… then you… you believe her?" Liara asked.

"Yes we do, Cerberus believes that the Reapers constitute the greatest threat the galaxy has ever seen. The Council wants to sweep it under the rug and live in ignorance, Shepard learned the truth and knew the threat that they imposed. My higher ups believe that Shepard is still the hope for weathering this storm." The Agent informed her.

"Shepard is dead, how can she be anything other then a martyr to a cause?" Asked Liara despondently.

"My higher ups have decided the Shepard is to valuable an asset to allow to remain deceased. I have been authorized to retrieve her body to attempt to resurrect her, I don't want to brag, but we have a tremendous amount of money and resources to accomplish this." Stated the Agent.

"But how? I… I just don't understand how you could possibly…" Liara began before the Agent interrupted her.

"Doctor T'Soni, we don't have a lot of time, if we want to recover the body, then we must intercept the mercenaries before they're able to make the exchange. I am more than willing to tell you everything during the trip to the mercenary base, but if you wish to participate I need an answer now."

Suddenly Liara noticed a shadow pass over the table, she looked up and saw a male Drell standing over the table.

"Miss Lawson, are we ready to go?"

"Soon, this is Feron an associate of mine. He is familiar with the location and the mercenary group; he will be assisting us in this mission. So doctor? Do we stay or do we go?" Asked the Agent.

"Yes, but you had better explain everything to me on the flight." Said Liara in a demanding tone.

"Very good," said the Agent before extending her hand to Liara's.

"Allow me to formally introduce myself, Miranda Lawson."

Citadel: Presidium

It took nearly two hours to navigate the Keeper tunnels, but Ashley Williams now found herself at an access hatch that led onto the Presidium.

"Damn, this place took a real beating." Remarked Ashley while observing the damage done by the Heretics.

Ash carefully stashed her weapons just inside the access hatch, then lifting the hatch carefully to check for any nearby security or civilians. Upon finishing her check of the area Ash crawled out of the hatch and onto the Presidium.

"On the Presidium, now where do I go?" Ashley asked.

_"Proceed to the embassies received only moderate damage and are still functioning for diplomatic staff. The computer records indicate that Captain Anderson has not yet received a office in the Citadel Tower, so any secure terminals would still be inside of the Human embassy." _Stated Voice.

"Got it, if memory serves the embassies are nearby." Said Ashley.

So Ashley Williams began to make her way across the Presidium, attempting to conceal herself as much as possible. There were more C-Sec patrols then she remembered there being, though that was not a surprising response to the attack. She made her way to the embassy courtyard to find it swarming with security and civilians alike.

_"Great," thought_ Ash.

"Voice I really need something to clear all these people out of here." Said Ashley, pondering on the best way to remove so many people at once, she opened the communication line again when she had an idea. "Voice can you hack into the fire alarm?"

_"Yes, fire detection and suppression are fairly low security areas of the system we should be able to access them…stand by." _Said the Voice of the Geth.

After waiting for only a few seconds the loud blare of a fire alarm sounded in the embassy courtyard.

"Everyone out! I repeat everyone leave the courtyard in an orderly fashion and proceed into the C-Sec Academy, please remain calm!" Said the Asari receptionist.

Slowly but surely the crowd began to make its way out of the courtyard and into C-Sec academy. When everyone was clear the Asari receptionist and the last C-Sec guards followed behind, this was now the young Gunny's chance to get to Captain Andersons terminal. Ash quickly sprinted across the Embassy courtyard, and with the assistance of her cybernetic augmentations she was to the embassy entrance in a matter of seconds. She quickly hacked the doors and soon found herself back in the Human embassy. Ash glanced around the office and made her way too Anderson's computer terminal, raising her omni tool, and created a link to the consensus.

_"Scanning, scanning, access granted. We have entered the Systems Alliance database." _Stated the Geth.

"No snooping, remember we are just looking for the Normandy crash site and time is of the essence." Said Ash through the uplink.

_"Searching…. Information found relaying it to the main terminal." _Said the Geth.

"Hmm, Alchera! The Normandy went down on Alchera!" Program Alchera into the ships database!" Ash exclaimed.

_"All information on the crash site downloaded, we suggest you make your way back to the access port."_ Stated the Geth to her.

"I agree."

Ash was just about make her way out of the room when the door to the office opened in front of her and revealed Councilor Anderson. Both individuals stood there too stunned to move for several seconds finally Anderson spoke up.

"Just who the hell are you and what the fuck are you doing in my office?" Shouted the former captain.

In the brief moment of silence between when the Councilor entered the room and spoke up, Ashley was having a light speed conversation with Voice.

"We suggest you incapacitate him and move to the air lock as fast as possible." Said Voice.

"No I want to talk to him, I have an idea I just hope he doesn't recognize my voice." Said Ashley.

"We installed a vocal modulator in your hardsuit's helmet, once activated it will mask your voice." Informed Voice.

"That's perfect! Activating it now!" Said Ashley.

The Councilor was about to repeat the question when a deep yet still distinctly feminine voice responded to the question.

"There's no need to be alarmed, I simply needed some information. I represent a group that is searching for the Normandy crash site." Said Ashley.

_"Are you sure that is a wise course of action?" _

_"Shut up!"_

"OK, you're still not giving me a reason why I shouldn't call C-Sec and have you dragged out of here. But I have to admit I am intrigued by your audacity to break into my office just to find a crash site." Said Anderson, he then paused for a second and then continued, "Am I to assume that you were responsible for that fire alarm that went off a few minutes ago?"

"Yes I was responsible for that, and as you've probably guessed that my associates have great technical know how, and the answer to your question is yes we could have just hacked directly into the Alliance database. And the simple response to that is we did not wish to be detected, we prefer our anonymity." Replied Ashley.

"Cerberus," Said Anderson with obvious disdain in his voice.

"No, we have no affiliation with Cerberus, all I can tell you is that we are a group of intelligent men and women who believe everything that Commander Shepard said." Said the young woman, before adding. "Everything."

"Is this supposed to impress me?" Said the former captain.

"No, I am simply informing you what we are. We believe what she said about the Reapers, and we pool our resources to try and learn more about them. We have chosen to accept the risks of living outside of Citadel space, we scout, we search, and we gain information. Information that could be of use to a brand new Councilor like yourself."

"You brake into my office, brake into my computer, and then offer to send me information from the outer regions?" Said Anderson while chuckling nervously.

"Yes, believe me if I wanted to hurt you I would have done so already. But sir I swear to you on my life all that we want to do is gather the information that will help all of the races survive the Reapers. You believe Shepard about the Reapers don't you?" Asked Ashley.

"What I believe doesn't matter in the long run, the funniest thing about this is you broke into a powerless man's office. Humanity's Council seat is little more then a joke really, all the power remains in the hands of the rest of the Council. I'm just the token." Said Anderson, sitting down in a chair on the other side of the office.

"Then why not do something about it? We can provide information to you, help you find resources before the other Council races find them. We can keep an eye on the Batarians and slavers for you, all the other Councilors have sources and secrets, why shouldn't you?" Asked Ashley.

"Boy I must be going crazy because you actually make a good point, but what do you get out of this?" Said Anderson.

"What we get out of it is a source within the Citadel government, we are not trying to blackmail you, and all that we ask is that you let us leave without calling security." Said Ashley.

"So I just let you walk out of here with out calling every C-Sec officer on this level and you provide me with information from the rim? Actually seems like a perfect arrangement, there's just one thing, I don't believe you. You say you have info, well then give me something. Prove to me that what you say is true." Stated Anderson.

Ashley paused for a moment, seeming to contemplate, when in reality she was communicating with Geth runtimes at light speed. Searching for the right crumb of information to prove her statements to Anderson. Finally finding the right piece of information to entice him into a deal.

"It is Council law that all deposits of Element Zero are to be reported to the Council so that it can be distributed all throughout council space is that not correct?" Stated the former Gunnery-Chief.

"Yes that is correct." Anderson replied.

"Then would it surprise you to know that for the past year the Salarians have been hoarding a strong vain of Element Zero all for themselves in the Hoplos system of the Hades Nexus?" Said Ashley.

Anderson's expression turned from bemused to shocked in a matter of seconds. The disposition and sharing of Element Zero was a central law of the Citadel, for one of the Council chairs to breach the public trust like this was surprising. Especially since the Systems Alliance had always respected this rule since joining with the Citadel, and turned locations of all Eezo vein's over to the Council for inspection and distribution.

"If this is true, would you be able to provide more concrete evidence to support this claim?" Said Anderson.

"Yes we can," responded Ashley.

"Very well I won't call security on you, I trust that you and your associates know how to keep a low profile?" Inquired Anderson.

"We very much like staying in the shadows." Responded Ashley.

"Very well. Now get the hell out of here before I change my mind. I take it that you will be able to get a hold of me some how?" Said Anderson.

After getting no reply Anderson turned around and found himself alone in his office.

"I hate it when people do that."

Citadel: Presidium

It was a decent drop from the balcony of Anderson's office to the presidium floor, but thanks to Ash's cybernetic limbs and spinal augmentations she was able to make the jump with out sustaining injury. Normally someone jumping from a great height would attract a lot of attention, but fortunate for her much of the embassy staff had yet to return to the area.

"Voice, I am out of the offices back on the presidium, about to make my way back to the tunnels." Said Ash over the link.

"Good we have had to adjust our position eight times to avoid detection, it would be best for us to depart as soon as possible." Replied Voice.

"OK the booster pack only has half its fuel remaining so you might need to…" Ash was beginning to respond to Voices statement before she noticed someone coming out of the presidium shops.

"Tali"

"Williams-Chief we do not recommend attempting to engage Creator-Zorah, we have no way of anticipating her response. It might lead to our discovery." Said Voice.

But Ash had stopped listening; right in front of her, only a few feet away was the love of her life. She had dreamed of her and of being reunited with her ever since she woke up on that Geth station nearly three months ago. She didn't know what she was going to say or how she would explain what had happened to her, but that could be done later when they were somewhere private. Ash decided that the best course of action would be to follow Tali from a distance to see where she was going. Surely Tali would reach an area where they could speak without prying ears. For now she would simply follow.

The Citadel: Lower Wards

Tali had just finished her shopping on the presidium; she was now proceeding back to her current lodging in the Lower Wards. She had made an appointment with this Doctor Solus and had booked passage on a passenger liner for Sur'Kesh for tomorrow morning. As she was walking around the Wards it occurred to her that this would be her final night on the Citadel, maybe even her last time on the Citadel ever. Tali did not doubt that she would wind up with a command upon her return to that Migrant Fleet. New information on the Geth and large amount of Citadel credits, she was certain that she would be welcomed back into the Fleet with open arms and cheers.

Tali then snapped out of her own thoughts when she realized where she was near. The alleyway, the one where she was ambushed by Fist where Shepard saved her. Where she first met Ashley. Tali decided that she couldn't leave the Citadel without walking through that area one last time. It was an ugly area, low red lighting, lots of pipes and access hatches. It was definitely not the most picturesque area on the Citadel, but nonetheless it held great meaning to her. As she passed through the alleyway, lost in memories of that day where Shepard had saved her life, so lost in fact that she didn't hear the door on the other side of the alleyway.

When Tali snapped back to reality she suddenly realized that a large group of Humans and Turians had entered the alleyway. Suddenly feeling very anxious about her vulnerability, she had no weapons on her and there were about seven men in the alleyway. Maybe if she just kept walking they would leave her alone.

"Well well, what have we here?"

"Looks like a suitrat out all alone."

"Where you going little girl?" Said one thug.

"No where, I just want to pass." Said Tali.

"Oh I don't think so." Said the lead thug.

They began to move in and surround Tali, one said, "you know, my friends and I have always wondered what does a Quarian look like out of a suit?"

"You see I just don't think my friends and I can pass up an opportunity like this." Said a Turian as he felt up her suit with his talons.

"Please, you don't want to do this." Said Tali, she noticed that the thugs all had knifes and pistols.

"Well you see if you don't struggle too much then we won't hurt you." Said the lead thug.

"Too much"

They all began laughing; Tali had not been this scared in a long time. Her only hope now it seemed was that a C-Sec patrol happened down this alley. Then almost as if she had willed it herself the door on the opposite side of the alleyway opened up. The thugs turned to look at the new presence in the alleyway. Tali herself turned around to see a figure dressed in grey and blue armor that Tali had not seen before. Tali was about to ask for help when one of the thugs reached up and wrapped his arm around Tali, pulling her close to his body.

"Hey you! You better get the fuck out of hear if you know wha…."

The thug never got a chance to finish that sentence as the stranger pulled out a pistol almost as fast as lightning and put two bullets in the mans head. As his body began to fall back Tali hit the deck to avoid what was surely about to become a shootout. The stranger then shot two more of the men before making it's way towards the rest of the thugs. After that it all seemed to be a blur. Tali's savior moved with a speed that she hadn't seen before, dodging gunfire and striking the thugs with incredible power. Tali was amazed by the fact that the battle was over almost as soon as it began.

The sight that Ashley saw when she followed Tali into the alleyway made her see red. She didn't even think, she allowed her anger and reflexes to take over. She put the bastard that was holding Tali as a shield before he was able to finish his bullshit threat. Then took out the two thugs closest to her, after that she put her pistol down, these fuckers were going to find out her power firsthand. She sprinted forward, then using her robotic legs she jumped into the air, pushed herself off the wall and punched one thug with her robotic arm. She heard his neck snap, then rolling forward she kicked another in the knee shattering it completely then as he fell to his hands and knees she kicked him in the stomach and sent him sailing across the room. After taking care of the last thug with a firearm she turned her attention on the other two. Spinning around with great speed she backhanded a human and sent him face first into the deck, then punched a Turian in the face with her enhanced right arm. She could feel his mandibles break on her fist, and then Ash lifted him up and sent him sailing into a wall.

The fight was almost too easy for Ash and her enhancements, as the adrenaline began to subside she realized that C-Sec would soon be informed about the gunshots. Ash was quickly trying to formulate a new plan, when she received a transmission from Voice.

"What!"

"We understand that you were partnered to Creator-Zorah and that you wish to be with her once again. In our scans of Citadel records we learned that Creator-Zorah attempted to self terminate once she learned of the destruction of Normandy and the loss of Shepard-Commander." Said Voice.

"She…Tali tried to kill herself?" Said Ashley the reality of her situation finally hitting her like a ton of bricks.

Tali had no doubt been dealing with her death form months and then she lost Shepard so soon after victory. What would realizing that I was actually alive do to her already damaged psyche? As difficult as it was Ash made a decision, no matter how she loved Tali she didn't want to hurt her anymore then she already was. She noticed that Tali was starting to stand, Ashley extended her hand and said…

"Are you alright ma'am?"

"Yes I'm fine, thank you very much for saving me." Said Tali.

"It was no problem, you were in trouble and I acted. Anyone would have done the same." Said Ash, trying to keep herself from swooning at the sound of Tali's voice.

"Well maybe, but you were the one that came, you have my thanks. Though I am somewhat confused as to how you were able to fight all of them." Said Tali.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you about that." Responded Ash.

"Oh, OK… well how can I show you my gratitude? My name is Tali'Zorah by the way." Said Tali extending her hand towards this mysterious woman.

"You don't need to do anything like that, I just saw dangerous people and I reacted. That's part of my training you might say." Said Ash accepting Tali's hand.

"I see, what's your name? I feel like I know you for some reason." Said Tali.

"I'm…I'm nobody. I am truly sorry about this but I cannot tell you that. I still have a mission to complete and C-Sec will be here soon, I don't want them to find me." Said Ash turning to leave.

"Wait, why don't you?" Said Tali putting her hand on the strange woman's shoulder, did the woman just shudder from the touch?

"Because I didn't exactly enter the station legally. I am truly sorry ma'am, but I have to go, I'm not dangerous, but I cannot let C-Sec find me." Replied Ashley, gently taking Tali's hand off of her shoulder.

Then the strange woman jumped straight up and grabbed the grate of an access panel a good ten feet above their heads.

"Well…OK then, thank you for saving my life. Might I ever see you again…stranger?" Tali asked.

The stranger ripped the grate off of its hinges and then dangling from the access way she said… "Maybe, the galaxies a big place."

And then her mysterious savior disappeared into the air vents.

"I hope you understand what I just did and how hard it was."

"We believe that we do."

"Good."

Ash worked her way through the Keeper tunnels again, trying to make her way back to her original entry point. Given her mission to recover the skipper and learning about Tali's current mental state from Citadel records, Ashley was certain that she had done the right thing. Though the knowledge of that fact brought did not make her hurt any less. The programs tried to comfort her in their own logical ways, and in her own way Ash was grateful for that. Even if she did sometimes miss being alone.

"Warning… the Citadel has just gone on high alert." Said the Geth.

"Why what happened?" Asked Ashley.

"Scanning, it would appear that the booster frame was found by a maintenance team." Replied Voice.

"Shit! But that alone shouldn't have been enough." Said Ash.

"It would seem that C-Sec linked the booster frame, the redundant information that was uploaded to the main systems, the fire alarm at the embassies, and the altercation in the Lower Wards." Said Voice.

"And figured out that someone was on the Citadel that wasn't supposed to be there, fuck. So what do we do now?" Asked Ash.

"Attempting to come up with alternative course of action, we are in the process of removing our software from the Citadel computers." Voice stated.

"Good, as for me I'm getting off this station the same way I came in." Said Ash.

"But with no booster…"

"That's right, you need to begin computations for a pinpoint FTL jump. And for my sake make sure you get the math right." Said Ashley.

"We are Geth"

"Of course you are"

Ash finally reached her destination, an outer airlock hatch.

"Relaying my coordinates now, is everything in position?" Asked the young solider.

"Processing coordinates, cross referenced, position achieved. Enter the airlock." Said the Geth.

Ashley entered the airlock, the inner doors sealing behind her, she waited patiently for the depressurization process to end. Finally the airlock finished depressurizing, Ashley opened the outer airlock, pushed her legs against the inner doors and pushed herself out into the nebula. All she could hear was the sound of her own breath as she drifted away from the Citadel. Then in a bright flash of light, Ash found herself sailing into the airlock of her ship. The vessel took off to avoid the fire of the CDF almost before the outer door finished closing, but after banging around for a minute of decompression and decontamination Ash found herself back onboard her own ship.

_ "Extraction successful, taking evasive action, moving towards Relay at maximum speed."_ Said the Geth

"Are we outrunning them?" Ashley asked.

"Yes the timing worked perfectly, our insertion and your retrieval were executed before visual scanning could get a good fix on our position. We shall arrive at the Relay before any CDF ships. Shall we set course for Alchera?" Said voice.

"No, divert us to the Traverse then set course once we're sure no one is tracking. Ordered Ash.

"Understood. Entering Relay now."

With a flash of blue and before the CDF really knew what was happening, the _Ulysses _disappeared from the nebula.

**Alchera: Amada system**

After eluding the CDF forces, the _Ulysses_ made the necessary jumps back to the Omega Nebula. Now they found themselves above the planet Alchera, the final resting place of the _SSV Normandy_. While the vessel was going in for a landing on the frozen wasteland Ash thought back on her year of service aboard the Normandy. Not only was it the highpoint of her military carrier, but it was also the happiest time of her life. It filled her with tremendous anger towards the Reapers.

"Scans complete, debris field found." Said the ships computer.

"Is there an adequate place to set down near the crash site?" Asked Ashley.

"Confirmed, wreckage appears to have soft-landed on the surface. Size of the debris field appears to be limited to a localized area." Said Voice

"Well that's good, at least we don't have to search a couple miles." Said Ashley.

"We have landed, have you sealed your hardsuit?" Asked Voice.

"Yes, sealed and prepped for extreme cold. What is this modification you made to my Omni-Tool?" Ash asked.

"It is a DNA scanning software that we crafted, it will allow us to scan for DNA signatures." Said Voice.

"Nice that should cut down on the search time." Said Ash

"Opening main hatch."

Ash and Voice made their way towards the wreckage of the _Normandy. _They found a clearing in which the majority of the wreckage had landed and began scanning for Shepard's DNA signature. Ash had thought that she had prepared herself to see this, but being there surrounded by the hulk of her ship she found herself bombarded by memories and emotions. She was amazed that so much was here; the galaxy map and most of the command deck had survived the crash. The Mako looked completely undamaged, clearly if Shepard couldn't destroy that thing then nothing could. The medical bay, and Kaidans office, and amazingly the armory survived too.

"Are you unwell Ashley Williams?" Asked the Geth.

"I'm fine, just a little overwhelmed. So much of it is intact it's just bringing back a lot of memories." Said Ashley.

"We see, we have run continuous scans and have extended the range as much as possible. There is no trace of Shepard-Commander." Voice responded.

"Damn, maybe she landed somewhere else on the planet?" Said Ashley.

"We doubt it, we have detected engine residue no more then five days old." Said Voice.

"So someone got here before us? Fucking great, now the skippers remains could be anywhere in the galaxy. Well what do we do now?" Asked Ash.

"We do not know, there is nothing here so we suggest returning to the Rannoch and search the extranet for new information." Responded Voice.

"As much as I don't like the sound of it, I can't think of a better idea. Lets go." Said Ash.

As the two began to make their way back to the ship, Ash kicked a piece of metal buried under the snow. Curious Ash bent down to check to see what it was. After brushing the snow off of the metal Ash discovered what it was. The chest piece and paladins of an N7 hardsuit.

"What is it?" Asked Voice.

"It's a piece of the Shepard's armor." Ash responded.

"Interesting" said Voice.

"I don't know if she was wearing this or if it was one of her spares. Either way I am not leaving this here on this frozen wasteland." Said Ashley.

"What purpose would it serve?" The Geth inquired.

"Well, sometimes when a great hero falls in battle, the soldiers that continue the fight take a belonging or something else to ensure the fallen hero's memory." Said Ashley, before holding the piece of the armor up to Voice's damaged platform and saying, "perfect, that can be welded just fine."

"Why?" Asked Voice.

"Because I want that Commander's memory to live on in the fight against the Reapers. If she struck as much fear into them as I think she did I want to give them a reminder. Besides, I'm getting tired of looking at this hole it really creeps me out." Said Ashley.

"Very well, we will honor the Commander's memory with you." Said Voice, taking the piece of armor in its hands.

Ash smiled under her helmet as they made their way back to the ship.

**Citadel: Docks**

With all of her remaining possessions packed up, Tali sat on the passenger liner to Sur'Kesh. Tali knew that it was a long shot, but she just had to try she owed Ashley that much. She took one look out the window as the ship zipped away from the Citadel, and knew that she would probably never see the station again. She was committed to this path.

**So that is chapter 9. I know it's been quite a while on this one, but the real world as been kicking me in the ass the last few months. Anyway I hope you all like this chapter, and I want to let you all know that there is just going to be one more chapter dealing with the immediate aftermath of the destruction of the Normandy. After that we will be into the events of Mass Effect 2. As always I welcome feedback and comments. **


End file.
